Kings Set To Begin Interviews In GM Search
Having parted ways with longtime general manager Vlade Divac last month, the Kings have now formally launched their search for a new head of basketball operations, according to Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic. Sources tell The Athletic duo that Sacramento is expected to begin interviews as soon as this week.
The Kings have requested permission to speak to Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth, Pelicans GM Trajan Langdon, Timberwolves executive VP Sachin Gupta, Heat assistant GM Adam Simon, and Rockets assistant GM Monte McNair, according to Charania and Amick, who report that the club will also talk to former Hawks GM Wes Wilcox.
It’s not clear if all those teams have granted Sacramento permission to talk to their executives, but none of the candidates identified by The Athletic are heads of basketball operations for their current clubs. If the Kings truly offering decision-making power in their front office, that would represent a promotion for everyone on their list, so I wouldn’t expect any teams to stand in the way.
As we noted on Monday when we previewed the Kings’ offseason, the organization’s plan for its front office has been a little hard to follow. Multiple reports suggested that Divac’s ouster occurred as a result of team owner Vivek Ranadive asking him to surrender control of basketball decisions to Dumars, and Dumars has since been named Sacramento’s interim executive VP of basketball operations.
However, a subsequent report suggested that Dumars won’t be a candidate for the Kings’ permanent general manager job. That report indicated that Dumars would be involved in the hiring process and would interview candidates along with Ranadive. However, it sounds like the plan is for the newly-hired GM to gain full control of roster moves and report directly to Ranadive.
At the time of Divac’s dismissal, there were reports that the Kings’ search for a new GM could take a while, perhaps extending beyond the draft and free agency and into next season. With interviews set to begin soon, perhaps the franchise has decided to accelerate the process.
The Kings have some major roster decisions to make this offseason, including potentially re-signing Bogdan Bogdanovic, extending De’Aaron Fox, making a lottery pick, and considering the possibility of trading Buddy Hield. Any GM candidate seriously considering taking the reins in Sacramento’s front office would likely want to have a voice in those decisions and may also seek clarity on Dumars’ role going forward.
Warriors, Thunder, Heat Hold Largest TPEs
A number of traded player exceptions that were scheduled to expire in July had their deadlines pushed back to coincide with the NBA’s revamped offseason schedule. In order to give teams the opportunity to maximize their resources, the expiration dates for those trade exceptions have been postponed to ensure they fall after the start of 2020 free agency.
For instance, the Warriors‘ $17.2MM traded player exception, generated in last July’s Andre Iguodala deal, had initially been set to expire on July 7, one year after the team traded Iguodala and one day after the NBA’s July moratorium ended. Now, with the free agency moratorium scheduled to end on October 23, Golden State’s TPE will expire on October 24, giving the team a small window to use it.
Presumably, if free agency gets delayed again, as has been rumored, the deadlines for that Warriors TPE and others would be pushed back again too.
As we explain in greater depth in our glossary entry, traded player exceptions allow over-the-cap teams to acquire players without needing to match salaries. The Warriors’ Iguodala trade exception is the one that’s most frequently discussed and speculated about, but Golden State isn’t the only team with a TPE that could come in handy this offseason.
Listed below are the 10 most valuable trade exceptions still available, along with their current expiration dates. Teams that go below the cap to use their cap room this offseason will have to forfeit these TPEs to do so.
- Golden State Warriors: $17,185,185 (10/24/20)
- Oklahoma City Thunder: $10,389,997 (10/27/20)
- Oklahoma City Thunder: $9,346,153 (10/25/20)
- Miami Heat: $7,533,867 (2/8/21)
- Portland Trail Blazers: $7,069,662 (1/21/21)
- Memphis Grizzlies: $4,736,842 (10/25/20)
- Memphis Grizzlies: $4,185,185 (2/8/21)
- New York Knicks: $3,988,766 (2/8/21)
- Cleveland Cavaliers: $3,837,500 (12/24/20)
- Houston Rockets: $3,595,333 (2/5/21)
Check out our tracker for the full list of available traded player exceptions.
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NBA Team Option Decisions For 2020/21
Having already created a space to track this offseason’s player option decisions, we’re turning our attention today to team options. Over the next couple months, we’ll use the space below to keep tabs on all the team options for 2020/21, making note of whether they’re picked up or declined.
True team options are somewhat rare in the NBA, since clubs have typically preferred to include a non-guaranteed year or two in player contracts. Non-guaranteed salaries are less restrictive and provide a little more flexibility than team options, which clubs must act upon by a specific date each year. Typically, that date falls in late June, but this year it will be October 17 if free agency isn’t further delayed.
Still, team options can be useful at the end of a contract, since turning down that option allows the team to retain some form of Bird rights on the player — waiving a player with a non-guaranteed salary doesn’t present that same opportunity. Additionally, a handful of contracts still don’t become fully guaranteed once an option is picked up, giving teams an extra level of flexibility.
The list below doesn’t include rookie scale team options for 2020/21, since those third- and fourth-year options function differently than team options on standard veteran contracts. Those ’20/21 rookie scale team option decisions were made during the 2019 offseason, and can be found here.
The standard team options for 2020/21 are listed below. This list – which can be found anytime under the “Hoops Rumors Features” menu on the right sidebar on our desktop site or on the “Features” page in our mobile menu – will be updated throughout the fall to note the latest decisions.
Point Guards
- Cameron Payne, Suns ($1,977,011): Exercised *
Shooting Guards
- Deonte Burton, Thunder ($1,663,861): Declined *
- Hamidou Diallo, Thunder ($1,663,861): Exercised
- Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, Pistons ($1,663,861): Exercised *
- David Nwaba, Rockets ($1,824,003): Exercised
- Theo Pinson, Knicks ($1,701,593): Declined
- Garrett Temple, Nets ($5,005,350): Declined
Small Forwards
- Melvin Frazier, Magic ($1,663,861): Declined
- Abdel Nader, Suns ($1,752,950): Exercised *
Power Forwards
- Cheick Diallo, Suns ($1,824,003): Declined
- Semi Ojeleye, Celtics ($1,752,950): Exercised *
- Bobby Portis, Knicks ($15,750,000): Declined
Centers
- Frank Kaminsky, Suns ($5,005,350): Declined
- Jontay Porter, Grizzlies ($1,517,981): Declined
Note: Options marked with an asterisk (*) won’t become fully guaranteed once they’re exercised, per Basketball Insiders and/or ESPN. If they’re exercised, they’ll become partially guaranteed or remain non-guaranteed until a later deadline.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Atlantic Notes: Ibaka, Hayward, Ainge, Sixers
Raptors center Serge Ibaka twisted his left ankle during the second half of the team’s Game 5 loss on Monday, potentially jeopardizing his status for Game 6 on Wednesday. As Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca tweets, Ibaka was in a walking boot today and said that he “will see” about his availability for Wednesday’s game.
Toronto’s initial injury report for Game 6 lists Ibaka as questionable. With the Raptors’ season on the line, down 3-2 to Boston, the big man will presumably do all he can to suit up.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- Celtics forward Gordon Hayward is back on campus, but the team isn’t sure when he’ll clear quarantine and when he’ll be able to play, writes Tom Westerholm of MassLive.com. Meanwhile, Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston wonders if the C’s will extend their season long enough for Hayward to contribute — Monday’s win certainly increased those odds.
- Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge, who has suffered multiple mild heart attacks in the past, was advised by doctors that he’d be “at risk” if he contracts COVID-19, he tells Jackie MacMullan of ESPN. As a result, Ainge didn’t accompany the C’s to the Orlando campus and has been watching the team’s playoff run from afar. “My doctors said it would be best if I did not go,” Ainge said. “But, as we’ve gone along — and I’ve thought about it since — I say to myself, ‘Man, it feels to me like the bubble is the healthiest place to be.'”
- While Brett Brown, Elton Brand, and the Sixers‘ supporting cast have taken much of the blame for the team’s lack of playoff success in recent years, Sopan Deb of The New York Times notes that Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid haven’t necessarily shown the growth expected of “prospective superstars” and questions whether either player is still capable of taking his play to another level.
Nuggets’ Will Barton Hasn’t Ruled Out Return
Nuggets wing Will Barton has been sidelined for the entire summer restart so far due to a right knee injury, but he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of returning before the end of Denver’s season, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported on TNT on Monday night (video link).
After initially accompanying his teammates on the Walt Disney World campus, Barton left Orlando in mid-August to rehab his nagging knee injury in Miami. At that point, it seemed as if his season might be over, but Haynes says the 29-year-old has been getting tested daily for COVID-19 so that he’ll have a brief quarantine period if and when he’s able to return.
With the Nuggets now trailing the Clippers 2-1 in their second-round series, the door may be closing on a potential Barton return. Despite receiving daily coronavirus testing while he’s away, Barton would still have to quarantine for four days once he’s back at Disney World, so Denver will likely need to extend the series to six or seven games to give him a realistic chance of suiting up. Even then, there are no guarantees, but he’s doing “everything in his power” to make it back, according to Haynes.
While the Nuggets have gotten by without Barton so far this summer, he was a valuable part of the team’s rotation during the regular season, averaging 15.1 PPG, 6.3 RPG, and 3.7 APG on .450/.375/.767 shooting in 58 starts (33.0 MPG). Jerami Grant is currently occupying Barton’s spot in the starting lineup.
And-Ones: Bubble, COVID-19, B. Williams, Singh
The NBA sent out a memo today informing teams that staffers will be permitted to bring guests into the Orlando bubble for the Conference Finals, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
As Wojnarowski explains, those guests will have to quarantine for seven days before being cleared to move around within the NBA’s bubble. Additionally, each club will be allowed to host a maximum of 10 total staff guests.
The NBA is adjusting its protocols just days after Nuggets head coach Michael Malone vocally expressed his displeasure with the league’s decision not to allow coaches to bring family members onto the Disney World campus.
While Malone was the most outspoken about the policy, a number of other coaches have publicly and privately expressed a similar sentiment. Of course, with his Nuggets trailing 2-1 in the second round and at risk of being eliminated before the Conference Finals, Malone may not end up benefiting from the league’s updated protocols.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- NBA teams also received a memo from the league this week alerting medical staffs to be aware of an increased risk of blood clotting associated with the coronavirus, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic. While no players have tested positive for COVID-19 in the bubble, a number of players previously contracted the virus.
- Arizona guard Brandon Williams, who averaged 11.4 PPG as a freshman in 2018/19 before missing his sophomore season due to a knee issue, will leave the program to pursue professional opportunities, the school confirmed in a press release. It’s too late for Williams to declare for this year’s draft, but he’ll forgo his remaining college eligibility.
- Princepal Singh, a 6’10” forward from India and a graduate of the NBA Academy, spoke to Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype about his decision to play for the NBA G League Ignite select team and his desire to “inspire the youth of India.”
- In an Insider-only article for ESPN.com, Mike Schmitz identifies some NBA players who have had performed well during the summer restart and explores what impact those performances may have on prospects from the 2020 draft class. For instance, Schmitz suggests that Luguentz Dort‘s impressive defense on James Harden in the first round should make scouts feel more comfortable about a defense-first wing like Isaac Okoro.
Poll: Best Available NBA Head Coaching Job
Now that the Knicks and Nets have hired new head coaches, there are four NBA clubs that have coaching openings to fill. Those teams are the Bulls, Pacers, Pelicans, and Sixers, and each head coaching job comes with some pros and cons.
In Chicago, for instance, there’s a solid group of promising young players – including Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen, Wendell Carter, Coby White, and this year’s No. 4 overall pick – and expectations shouldn’t be overly high for the first year or two, since the team is still in the process of rebuilding.
The Bulls are somewhat lacking in star power, however, which may limit the team’s ceiling. That’s not the case in Philadelphia, where the Sixers have a pair of All-Stars – Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons – on long-term contracts.
That’s a great foundation to build upon, but the new 76ers head coach will be tasked with solving a puzzle that Brett Brown couldn’t — figuring out how to get the most of Embiid and Simmons together on offense. With Tobias Harris and Al Horford earning nearly $62MM combined in 2020/21, the team’s ability to make upgrades around its two stars will be limited, so maximizing the current roster will be paramount.
The Pelicans also have some star power that could appeal to a head coaching candidate, with Jrue Holiday serving as the team’s veteran leader, while Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram are the rising young stars. It’s certainly an intriguing job, but Holiday is entering a contract year, Ingram is about to get very expensive, and Williamson hasn’t yet proven he can consistently remain healthy. Expectations in New Orleans are rising, putting added pressure on the team’s next head coach.
Meanwhile, in Indiana, Victor Oladipo is entering a contract year and it’s not clear whether or not he envisions a long-term future with the Pacers, which could complicate matters for a new head coach. Still, there’s a lot to work with here. Even if Oladipo and/or Myles Turner end up on the trade block at some point, the Pacers could get a strong return for either player and can lean on the likes of Domantas Sabonis, Malcolm Brogdon, and T.J. Warren.
What do you think? If you were a head coaching candidate with equal offers in hand from the Bulls, Pacers, Pelicans, and Sixers, which job would you take? Which one would be the least appealing, in your opinion?
Vote in our poll, then head to the comment section below to weigh in with your two cents!
Which head coaching job is most desirable?
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New Orleans Pelicans 33% (1,010)
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Philadelphia 76ers 29% (881)
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Indiana Pacers 20% (602)
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Chicago Bulls 18% (537)
Total votes: 3,030
Trade Rumors app users, click here to vote.
Bucks Haven’t Ruled Out Giannis For Game 5
4:22pm: Antetokounmpo is being listed as questionable for Game 5, according to Shams Charania of Stadium (video link), who reports that Giannis is feeling similar to how he felt heading into Game 4. That’s promising news for the Bucks, since Antetokounmpo was available to start Game 4.
2:43pm: After re-aggravating his right ankle sprain during Sunday’s game vs. Miami, Giannis Antetokounmpo was unable to return to the game. However, the Bucks still haven’t ruled out their star forward for Game 5 on Tuesday, per Eric Woodyard of ESPN.
Head coach Mike Budenholzer told reporters today that Antetokounmpo is receiving treatment “around the clock” in the hopes that he can be available on Tuesday. The Bucks’ sports performance group is expected to closely evaluate the reigning MVP with both the short- and long-term in mind, according to Woodyard, who notes that the club doesn’t want the injury to turn into anything more serious.
After leaving Game 4, Antetokounmpo was encouraging the Bucks’ medical staff to tape up his ankle and let him return to the court, but he was unable to plant or jump off his right foot, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
“I know how hard he’s gonna work. I know how hard our sports performance group’s gonna work. It’s just impossible to say, but I guess, yeah, there’s hope,” Budenholzer said today. “We’re not ruling him out; so I guess until he’s ruled out, you have hope. Again, he’s gonna do everything he can to make himself available, and we’ll just see how the next 30 hours go.”
The Bucks trail the Heat 3-1 in their second-round series, so a loss on Tuesday would end their season. A win would force a Game 6 on Thursday.
2020 NBA Offseason Preview: Sacramento Kings
Hoops Rumors is previewing the 2020 offseason for all 30 NBA teams. We’re looking at the key questions facing each club, as well as the roster decisions they’ll have to make this fall. Today, we’re focusing on the Sacramento Kings.
Salary Cap Outlook
The Kings might be able to open up a little cap room by renouncing free agents and waiving non-guaranteed players, but they’re unlikely to go in that direction. Any attempt to re-sign Bogdan Bogdanovic, who has a $16MM cap hold, will all but ensure that Sacramento operates as an over-the-cap team this offseason, barring major cost-cutting moves.
The Kings should also have the flexibility to make use of their non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($9.26MM) and/or bi-annual exception ($3.62MM), if they so choose.
Our full salary cap preview for the Kings can be found right here.
Roster Decisions To Watch
Options:
- Jabari Parker, player option: $6,500,000 (Oct. 15 deadline)
Non-Guaranteed Contracts:
- Nemanja Bjelica ($7,150,000)
Two-Way Contracts:
- Kyle Guy (expires in 2021)
- DaQuan Jeffries (expiring)
Free Agents:
- Kent Bazemore (Bird)
- Alex Len (Early Bird)
- Yogi Ferrell (Early Bird)
- Corey Brewer (Non-Bird)
- Harry Giles (Bird; fourth-year restriction)
- Bogdan Bogdanovic (RFA; Bird)
2020 Draft Assets
First Round:
- No. 12 overall pick
Second Round:
- No. 35 overall pick
- No. 43 overall pick
- No. 52 overall pick
In addition to their own draft picks at No. 12 and No. 43, the Kings picked up a pair of extra second-rounders in past trades.
That No. 35 overall selection is the Pistons’ pick, which Sacramento acquired from Phoenix on draft night in 2016 in the same deal that saw the Suns move up to No. 8 for Marquese Chriss while the Kings acquired Bogdan Bogdanovic‘s draft rights.
The No. 52 pick is from the Rockets as a result of a three-team Iman Shumpert trade at the 2019 deadline.
Three Key Offseason Questions
1. Are Buddy Hield‘s days in Sacramento numbered?
Following a breakout 2018/19 performance, Hield had another productive season in ’19/20, averaging 19.2 PPG and shooting 39.4% on an eye-popping 9.6 three-point attempts per game. However, Hield’s first season under new head coach Luke Walton was much more tumultuous than those numbers made it seem.
In December, upset about hardly seeing any fourth-quarter action in a pair of close losses, Hield told reporters there were “trust issues” in Sacramento. Less than a month later, in January, he was removed from the Kings’ starting lineup in favor of Bogdan Bogdanovic. And a few weeks after that, in mid-February, a report from The Athletic suggested it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Hield requests a trade in the offseason.
A second-half surge from the Kings, with Bogdanovic thriving in the starting lineup and Hield doing the same off the bench, temporarily quieted speculation about the shooting guard’s future. But a disappointing showing in Orlando this summer – along with the firing of general manager Vlade Divac – helped reignite that speculation.
Hield’s new contract extension – which starts at nearly $25MM before declining in later seasons – will go into effect in 2020/21. Having already committed big money to Hield and Harrison Barnes, Sacramento want to lock up Bogdanovic with a lucrative long-term contract of his own, and De’Aaron Fox‘s payday is around the corner too. Unless they want to lock themselves into this core going forward, common sense suggests that the Kings may have to shop one of their highly-paid players.
Hield and Barnes are the most logical candidates to be moved, and Hield would be the more valuable asset of the two on the trade market, given his three-point prowess and his positional overlap with Bogdanovic. The Kings could probably get a pretty decent package in return for him — but will they want to move him?
It’s too early to get a sense of whether Sacramento will seriously consider a Hield trade this fall. But it certainly wouldn’t come as a shock to hear his name pop up in trade rumors. Divac was motivated to see Hield succeed in Sacramento since he was the centerpiece of the DeMarcus Cousins trade, but with Divac no longer in the picture, the new decision-makers in Sacramento may not feel the same attachment to the veteran sharpshooter.
2. Who will assume long-term control of basketball decisions for the Kings?
Speaking of the new decision-makers in Sacramento, for now we only know who is making those calls in the interim. That’d be former advisor Joe Dumars, who was named the team’s executive vice president of basketball operations in the wake of Divac’s departure.
It’s been difficult to parse exactly what’s happening in the Kings’ front office. Multiple reports suggested that Divac’s ouster occurred as a result of team owner Vivek Ranadive asking him to surrender control of basketball decisions to Dumars. When Divac was unwilling to accept a demotion, he was let go and Dumars was – at least temporarily – promoted.
However, a subsequent report suggested that Dumars won’t be a candidate for the Kings’ permanent general manager job. That report indicated he’d be involved in the hiring process and would interview candidates along with Ranadive. But the plan, apparently, is for the newly-hired GM to gain full control of roster moves and report directly to Ranadive. It’s unclear what role Dumars would have with the franchise after that.
If the new general manager is going to have long-term control of the team’s basketball decisions, it would make sense for Sacramento to conduct its search as soon as possible in order to ensure that the new GM can have a say in this offseason’s roster decisions. But the Kings are said to be in no rush to finalize a hire before the draft and free agency.
That puts added pressure on Dumars and the current group in the front office to make quality decisions this fall as they tackle several major issues. If Dumars makes a questionable lottery pick, overpays to retain Bogdanovic, or doesn’t get great value in a Hield trade, the job may look a little less appealing to GM candidates who will have to live with the effects of those decisions for the next few years.
3. Will De’Aaron Fox get a maximum-salary extension offer?
Perhaps the most important decision of the Kings’ offseason relates to their promising young point guard. Fox, 22, had an up-and-down season in 2019/20, battling health issues and struggling to knock down three-pointers (he made just 29.2% after hitting 34.5% in his first two seasons).
However, he established new career highs in PPG (21.1) and FG% (.480), flashed star potential, and was especially effective during the summer restart. As some of his teammates struggled, Fox averaged 26.2 PPG and 7.3 APG in six games in Orlando. Those six summer seeding contests represent the last look the Kings will get at Fox in game action before he becomes eligible for a rookie scale extension this fall.
The Kings and Fox have reportedly already had some preliminary discussions about a new deal, and Fox has said he’s interesting in signing an extension before his fourth season. The question now is how high Sacramento is willing to go with its offer.
If the Kings are ready to offer Fox a five-year max deal, negotiations should be quick and painless. There would be little reason for the young point guard to wait for restricted free agency in 2021 unless he really doesn’t want to be in Sacramento, and there has been no indication that’s the case.
If the Kings don’t offer Fox the max, things could get a little trickier. Amidst a global pandemic, with league revenues very much up in the air, would the 22-year-old be willing to accept a more team-friendly deal? Or would the team risk rubbing him the wrong way with such an offer, making the situation unnecessarily contentious?
The guess here is that the Kings will offer Fox a five-year max. That’s essentially the same deal that Ben Simmons and Jamal Murray each signed a year ago, starting at 25% of the cap. And while Fox has yet to make an All-Star team like Simmons or show he can be a big-time playoff scorer like Murray, the Kings have signaled during the last couple years that they believe in Fox’s potential and are willing to build their roster around him. I don’t expect they’ll risk complicating the relationship by low-balling him in extension talks.
Information from Basketball Insiders and ESPN was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.