Details On Traded Draft Picks Protected In 2020
When the NBA completed its draft lottery last week, awarding the Timberwolves the No. 1 overall pick, it ensured that the full draft order for 2020 has now been established.
Of the 60 picks in this year’s draft, a total of 28 – nine in the first round and 19 in the second – have been traded from one team to another. However, that number could have been even higher if not for the protections that were applied to several traded picks.
In some cases, those traded draft picks will be rolled over to 2021 with identical protections. In other cases, teams have been awarded a different pick (or two) as a consolation for not receiving the protected 2020 pick. And in a couple instances, the obligation from one team another has simply been extinguished by virtue of this year’s protections.
Here’s a breakdown of the traded draft picks that were protected in 2020 and what will happen with them going forward:
First Round
Cavaliers’ 2020 first-round pick (top-10 protected) to Pelicans
Initially traded to Atlanta for Kyle Korver, the Cavaliers’ top-10 protected 2020 first-round pick was flipped by the Hawks to the Pelicans a year ago when Atlanta moved up to No. 4 to draft De’Andre Hunter.
Because the pick landed at No. 5 this year, the Cavaliers kept it. Instead of owing New Orleans a future first-rounder, Cleveland will send its unprotected 2021 and 2022 second-round picks to the Pelicans.
Jazz’s 2020 first-round pick (1-7 and 15-30 protection) to Grizzlies
Part of the Mike Conley trade, this pick was protected on either end of the first round, since the Jazz didn’t want to give up a high lottery selection, while the Grizzlies preferred not to receive a pick in the 20s. It was protected this year as a result of landing at No. 23.
The Jazz now owe the Grizzlies their 2021 first-round pick, with the same protections (1-7 and 15-30). If it doesn’t land between 8-14 next year, it will become simply top-six protected in 2022.
Warriors’ 2020 first-round pick (top-20 protected) to Nets
It became fairly obvious early in the season that this pick – included as part of the Kevin Durant/D’Angelo Russell sign-and-trade, had no chance of conveying. The Warriors’ first-rounder ended up at No. 2 overall.
The Nets will now have to wait five years to get a pick from the Warriors, who owe Brooklyn their unprotected 2025 second-round pick.
Second Round
Pacers’ 2020 second-round pick (45-60 protected) to Nets
The Nets are still waiting on this pick as a result of a 2016 trade which saw them trade Thaddeus Young for the first-round pick that became Caris LeVert. It was originally supposed to be a 2017 second-rounder, but has been protected since then — it landed at No. 54 this year.
The Pacers now owe the Nets their 2021 second-rounder with the same 45-60 protection. That protection will also apply in 2022. If it still hasn’t changed hands by then, Brooklyn will receive Indiana’s unprotected 2023 second-rounder.
Hawks’ 2020 second-round pick (top-55 protected) to Celtics
The Hawks owed Boston their top-55 protected second-round pick, but never really expected it to be conveyed. It was a placeholder in a 2019 Jabari Bird trade that saw Atlanta acquire some cash. Atlanta’s second-round pick this year is No. 34 and was instead sent to the Sixers, who would have received it if it fell anywhere between 31-55.
The Hawks’ obligation to the Celtics is now extinguished.
Trail Blazers’ 2020 second-round pick (top-55 protected) to Nets
Like the Atlanta/Boston pick, this was a placeholder pick, first traded way back in 2015 from the Trail Blazers to Orlando in exchange for Maurice Harkless. From there, it went to Cleveland in 2016, Atlanta in 2017, and Brooklyn in 2018 as part of the Hawks’ acquisition of Jeremy Lin.
Because the Trail Blazers’ pick, which landed at No. 46, was protected this year, their obligation to the Nets is now extinguished.
Russell Westbrook Expected To Return For Game 5
2:20pm: Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni said on Friday that Westbrook will go through today’s practice and that the team expects him to be “ready to go” for Game 5, barring any setbacks. According to Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com (Twitter link), D’Antoni anticipates some sort of minutes restriction for Westbrook, but no specifics have been discussed yet.
9:44am: Rockets point guard Russell Westbrook is expected to play in Game 5 against Oklahoma City after missing the first four games of the series due to a strained right quadriceps, a source tells Mark Berman of FOX 26 Houston (Twitter link).
Westbrook, who was initially ruled out for Game 5, was upgraded to questionable on Wednesday and intended to test his quad on the court before the game to see if he’d be able to go. When players decided not to play Wednesday’s games in protest of social and racial injustices, he didn’t get the opportunity to test the injury.
However, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon and Adrian Wojnarowski report that Westbrook participated in a 5-on-5 intrasquad scrimmage held by the Rockets on Thursday. While the report doesn’t confirm that Westbrook intends to play in Game 5, a source told ESPN that the former MVP “looked as explosive as ever.”
The NBA hasn’t officially announced a new date and time for Game 5 of the Rockets/Thunder series, but there’s an expectation that it will be rescheduled for Saturday. The series is currently tied at two games apiece.
Pelicans Owner Gayle Benson Diagnosed With Coronavirus
Pelicans owner Gayle Benson has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, according to Amie Just and Ramon Antonio Vargas of NOLA.com.
Benson – who tested positive for COVID-19 within the last two weeks, per NOLA.com – is 73 years old, putting her at higher risk of being seriously affected by the virus. It’s not known what symptoms she’s experiencing, but Just and Vargas report that the Pelicans owner is under “daily medical care” and is recovering well.
Team spokesperson Greg Bensel said Benson was not hospitalized and hasn’t missed a Board of Governors call in recent days, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
While the NBA has done a great job avoiding an outbreak of COVID-19 within their Walt Disney World campus, only 13 teams are still in Orlando, and each of those clubs has a smaller traveling party than usual. So plenty of players, executives, coaches, owners, and other personnel around the league aren’t currently enjoying the benefits of the NBA’s Disney “bubble.”
Benson, who also owns the NFL’s New Orleans Saints, is at least the second NBA owner known to have contracted the coronavirus. Knicks owner James Dolan tested positive for COVID-19 back in March.
NBA, NBPA Confirm Agreement To Resume Playoffs
The NBA and National Basketball Players Association have issued a joint statement confirming that the postseason will resume on Saturday, August 29 and outlining the social justice and voting initiatives that have been agreed upon as part of the restart.
The full slate of games for Saturday and Sunday can be found right here.
As part of the agreement to resume the playoffs, the NBA and its players will immediately establish a “social justice coalition,” which will focus on issues such as “increasing access to voting, promoting civic engagement, and advocating for meaningful police and criminal justice reform.” Players, coaches, and team owners will all be part of that coalition.
Additionally, in each city where the NBA team owns its arena, owners will work with local officials to convert those buildings into voting locations for the 2020 election. A number of clubs have started doing this already, with the Rockets and Jazz among the latest to confirm their plans.
The Heat pushed for this initiative, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, who tweets that the club has been “trying for months” to get local officials to make AmericanAirlines Arena a voting center.
The NBA also plans to work with players and the league’s broadcast partners to create more advertisements that promote “greater civic engagement in national and local elections” and raise awareness about voter access — they’ll be aired during the remaining 2020 playoff games.
Following the players’ decision not to play Wednesday’s games as scheduled, they met multiple times on Wednesday and Thursday and ultimately decided they wanted to complete the season. They held a call with team owners on Thursday evening to discuss next steps and came away satisfied with how their concerns were addressed — presumably, the initiatives detailed above were all discussed during that call.
About 100 NBA Employees Walk Out Friday In Solidarity With Players
Approximately 100 NBA employees walked out on Friday in solidarity with NBA and WNBA players who have engaged in social justice protests, a league source tells Malika Andrews of ESPN.
The staffers, based in New York and New Jersey, span 10 separate league departments, including basketball operations, finance, and marketing. As Andrews details, they plan to spend the day on Friday calling state and local officials to “demand justice for Jacob Blake and for the police officers to be held accountable.”
In a letter directed to commissioner Adam Silver and deputy commissioner Mark Tatum, the employees said they feel the NBA has the power and leverage to do more to address and combat police brutality and systemic racism.
“We acknowledge and credit all the work the NBA has already done,” the letter reads, per Andrews. “But we have the power to have a greater impact. The NBA has not done enough proactively, and rather has relied too heavily on our players… We understand that we are a business, but fears of losing revenue and advertisers should not numb us to the cries of Black men, women and children that continue to be oppressed in the same communities in which we play.”
The employees will meet on Friday afternoon for a brainstorming session and hope to formally present their ideas to Silver and Tatum next week, says Andrews. Prior to being notified of the staffers’ decision to protest on Friday, Silver sent out a letter to league employees about the situation.
“I understand that some of you feel the league should be doing more. I hear you – and please know that I am focused on ensuring that we as a league are effecting real change both within our organization and in communities across the country,” Silver’s message reads, in part. “Through the efforts of our internal Social Justice Task Force and the commitments we made, including the formation of the first-ever NBA Foundation to create greater economic empowerment in the Black community, we are dedicated to driving the sustainable change that is long overdue.”
NBA Postseason Expected To Resume On Saturday
AUGUST 28, 6:41am: Reports from Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle and Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, among others, continue to point to Saturday as the day when the NBA’s postseason is on track to resume. We’re still waiting for official word from the league and the NBPA, but it appears increasingly unlikely that Friday’s games will be played as scheduled.
AUGUST 27, 1:28pm: NBA spokesperson Mike Bass has issued a statement confirming that Thursday’s games have been postponed and indicating that the league is hopeful to resume play either Friday or Saturday.
As reported by Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) and confirmed by Bass, a meeting will take place today at 5:00pm eastern time to discuss the resumption.
Two players from each remaining playoff team, the owners of those 13 teams, commissioner Adam Silver, NBPA executive director Michele Roberts, and Hornets owner Michael Jordan (chair of the labor relations committee) will take part in that meeting, per Goodwill.
AUGUST 27, 1:07pm: The NBA playoffs are expected to resume on Saturday, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link).
Following Wednesday’s boycotts, NBA players decided today that they would resume the season. However, Thursday’s games are being postponed and it sounds like Friday’s will be as well.
According to Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe (Twitter link), the Celtics/Raptors second-round series that had been scheduled to begin on Thursday is now expected to tip off on Sunday. Tania Ganguli of The Los Angeles Times notes (via Twitter) that nothing is official yet, but says it sounds like the Lakers and Trail Blazers will play Game 5 of their first-round series on Saturday.
While no other dates have been confirmed so far, it seems safe to assume that the games originally scheduled for Wednesday would take place on Saturday, with Thursday’s contests being rescheduled to Sunday.
That would mean that Game 5 in two other playoff series – Bucks/Magic and Rockets/Thunder – would take place on Saturday, with the Jazz/Nuggets and Clippers/Mavericks playing Game 6 of their respective series on Sunday.
With meetings between players and team owners scheduled to take place later today, we’ll have to wait for official word from the NBA before locking anything in.
2020 NBA Offseason Preview: Minnesota Timberwolves
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 Minnesota Timberwolves.
Salary Cap Outlook
The Timberwolves only have about $75MM in fully guaranteed money on their books for 2020/21 so far, so they could theoretically create some cap room. But after accounting for James Johnson‘s player option ($16MM), along with cap holds for Juan Hernangomez ($9.96MM), Malik Beasley ($8.2MM), and their first-round picks (likely about $12.7MM combined), that cap room is nonexistent.
Minnesota figures to enter the offseason as an over-the-cap team, with the full mid-level exception (about $9.3MM) and bi-annual exception ($3.6MM) available.
Our full salary cap preview for the Timberwolves can be found right here.
Roster Decisions To Watch
Options:
- James Johnson, player option: $16,047,100 (Oct. 17 deadline)
Non-Guaranteed Contracts:
- Jarred Vanderbilt ($1,663,861)
- Jaylen Nowell ($1,517,981)
- Naz Reid ($1,517,981)
Two-Way Contracts:
- Kelan Martin (expiring)
- Jordan McLaughlin (expiring)
Free Agents:
- Evan Turner (Bird)
- Malik Beasley (RFA; Bird)
- Juan Hernangomez (RFA; Bird)
2020 Draft Assets
First Round:
- No. 1 overall pick
- No. 17 overall pick
The Timberwolves lucked out in the lottery, nabbing the first overall pick for the second time in the last six years. The Wolves will also receive the Nets’ first-round pick, which was lottery-protected but landed at No. 17.
Second Round:
- No. 33 overall pick
Minnesota is the only team picking between Nos. 31-40 that didn’t trade its second-round pick. It falls at No. 33.
Three Key Offseason Questions
1. How will the Timberwolves use the No. 1 overall pick?
Having traded away their top-three protected 2021 first-round pick in February to acquire D’Angelo Russell, the Timberwolves may very well find themselves without a lottery selection a year from now. So securing the top pick in this year’s draft was a fortuitous turn of events for a franchise in need of a talent injection.
Unfortunately for president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas, there no Zion Williamson, Anthony Davis, or LeBron James at the top of the 2020 draft class. With no consensus No. 1 prospect and no players who are locks to become franchise cornerstones, Minnesota faces a tough decision with that first overall pick.
Drafting for need usually isn’t the right move anywhere in the lottery, let alone at No. 1, but with Russell and Karl-Anthony Towns installed as their obvious building blocks at the point and in the middle, the Timberwolves would have to feel pretty confident about the fit if they were to take another point guard like LaMelo Ball or another big man like James Wiseman.
Going in that direction isn’t out of the question. Jonathan Givony of ESPN projects the Wolves to select Ball at No. 1 in his latest mock draft, noting that the youngster’s size will make it easy to pair him with another guard. Givony acknowledges that a Ball/Russell backcourt might be a disaster defensively, but suggests that no player in this year’s class has more star power than Lonzo Ball‘s youngest brother.
There’s another player who is viewed as a candidate for No. 1 though, and he might be a better match for Minnesota: Anthony Edwards. The former Georgia shooting guard is a talented scorer and has the strength, length, and quickness necessary to develop into a lockdown defender, ESPN’s Mike Schmitz writes in his scouting report.
Given his obvious fit on the wing alongside Russell and Towns, Edwards looks like the safest pick for the Wolves at this point. But this draft figures to be an unpredictable one, so nothing can be ruled out yet. I could even see Rosas trading down, if another team wants to move up to nab a player who isn’t atop the Wolves’ board. Such a deal could be a way to replace the 2021 first-round pick Minnesota traded away earlier this year.
2. How much will RFAs Malik Beasley and Juan Hernangomez cost?
When they sent Robert Covington to Houston in a four-team deadline deal in February, the Timberwolves chose to flip Houston’s 2020 first-round pick to Denver in order to land Beasley and Hernangomez.
Neither player had been all that impressive in 2019/20 up until that point, having been buried in the Nuggets’ rotation. But they made the Wolves look good over the next 14 games, right up until the season was suspended. Hernangomez contributed a solid 12.9 PPG and 7.3 RPG on .453/.420/.609 shooting in 29.4 minutes per contest, while Beasley was even better, with 20.7 PPG and 5.1 RPG on .472/.426/.750 shooting in 33.1 MPG.
The duo’s success was a mixed blessing for the Wolves, who will now be tasked with retaining both players in restricted free agency. Part of the reason the Nuggets were willing to move on from Beasley and Hernangomez was an understanding that they probably wouldn’t be willing to pay to re-sign them, but Minnesota is under more pressure to do so in order to make sure they recoup solid value from the Covington trade.
Few teams have cap room available, and those that do may turn to other free agents rather than trying to pry a pair of promising young restricted free agents away from a rebuilding team. But the Wolves will still probably have to pony up if they want to secure Beasley and Hernangomez for the long term. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the duo ends up costing a combined $25MM+ per year.
If the Wolves are uneasy about the financial commitment it will take to lock up either player, the club could explore a sign-and-trade. Those were popular a year ago for RFAs who wanted to change teams, allowing their old clubs to acquire draft picks or other assets in return for declining to exercise their right of first refusal.
3. How will the impending sale of the team affect the Wolves going forward?
Longtime Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor confirmed last month that he was exploring a sale of the franchise, and there appears to be momentum for former Grizzlies minority stakeholder Daniel Straus to emerge as the club’s new controlling owner.
Whether the next owner is Straus or someone else, we don’t know much about how they would run an NBA team. The most pressing question, of course, would be whether the new owner would commit to keeping the team in Minnesota long-term, but it seems unlikely Taylor would sell to anyone not willing to do so.
Beyond that issue, there would be plenty of other questions to answer. How much would the new owner be willing to spend on players, coaches, and executives from year to year? Would they be patient with a rebuilding process or push to contend sooner rather than later? Would they want to have a hand in basketball matters at all? Would they want to make any leadership changes, perhaps replacing Rosas and/or head coach Ryan Saunders?
No fan wants its favorite team to be run by an owner who has a desire to cut costs or overrule the team’s top basketball experts on key roster decisions. If and when Taylor sells, it’ll be worth keeping a close eye on how the new ownership group adjusts to the job.
Information from Basketball Insiders and ESPN was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Aaron Gordon Leaves NBA’s Campus
Magic forward Aaron Gordon has left the NBA’s Walt Disney World campus, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Charania explains that Gordon left the bubble due to his left hamstring injury and the “events of (the) past few days.”
Gordon, who suffered a hamstring strain on August 5 vs. Toronto, missed Orlando’s last four seeding games and had yet to play in the postseason. Despite some optimism that he was getting close to returning, the veteran forward was still unable to sprint up and down the court, head coach Steve Clifford said this week. Clifford also told reporters that the team didn’t want to risk Gordon suffering a more serious injury.
With playoff games expected to resume on Friday or Saturday, the Magic’s season could be over by the end of the weekend — Orlando currently trails the Bucks by a 3-1 margin in their first-round series.
Gordon will enter next season with two years left on his contract, having averaged 14.4 PPG, 7.7 RPG, and 3.7 APG in 62 games (32.5 MPG) in 2019/20. He was considered a potential trade candidate before Jonathan Isaac suffered a torn ACL this summer. With Isaac’s availability for the 2020/21 season up in the air, it’s possible Orlando will be more inclined to hang onto Gordon.
Michael Jordan Acting As Key Liaison Between Players, Owners
His team hasn’t played a game since March, but Hornets owner Michael Jordan has emerged as an important go-between for NBA team owners and the players at the Walt Disney World campus, writes Jackie MacMullan of ESPN.
As MacMullan explains, Jordan is the NBA’s only Black majority owner, and his experience as a player allows him to connect with current players in a way that other franchise owners may not be able to. According to MacMullan, Jordan spoke to NBPA president Chris Paul before this morning’s player and owner meetings to get a better understanding of what players hope to achieve going forward.
“Michael is the perfect person to be in this role,” one league official told ESPN. “He’s been a high-profile player who has won championships. He’s also the owner of a small-market team. He has great credibility both with the players and the owners.”
During Thursday morning’s Board of Governors meeting, Jordan was a “voice of reason,” according to MacMullan, who says the former Bulls superstar urged his fellow owners to listen to players’ frustrations and concerns before offering their own solutions. League sources tell ESPN that team owners unanimously supported the players and spent much of their meeting discussing how to amplify player voices.
The NBPA had been scheduled to meet this afternoon at 4:00pm eastern time – with two or three reps from each team participating in the discussion – to iron out the issues they want to address with team owners, tweets Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. A meeting between players and owners will follow at 5:00pm, with Jordan – who is the chair of the labor relations committee – set to participate.
Reports have indicated that many players favored continuing the season due to the platform the restart has created to raise awareness of social injustices, and MacMullan writes that a number of owners – including Jordan – expressed a similar sentiment.
Of course, it’s worth noting that financial considerations will also incentivize the two sides to remain on the same page going forward. Sources tell The Athletic that players would have lost approximately 15% of this year’s salary if they’d chosen to end the season, and would have been risking about 35% of their salaries for next season. The lost revenues associated with a stoppage would have hit team owners hard as well.
McMillan Doesn’t Plan To Pursue Head Coaching Job For 2020/21
After being let go by the Pacers this week, veteran NBA coach Nate McMillan tells Bob Kravitz of The Athletic that he doesn’t anticipate seeking out a new head coaching job for the 2020/21 season.
“I’m going to take this year and just look at things,” McMillan said. “A lot has changed, the league and the game have changed, so I’ll take this year and see what happens, but I won’t get back into it this season.”
Several teams – the Bulls, Sixers, Nets, and Pelicans – are currently in the market for a new head coach and it’s possible others will join them as they’re eliminated from the postseason. McMillan’s strong 183-136 (.574) record over the last four seasons in Indiana would make him a viable candidate for some of those openings.
However, McMillan will continue to get paid by the Pacers for the 2020/21 season, so it makes sense that he’d prefer to take a step back and fully consider his options rather than jumping right back onto the coaching carousel.
As for his exit from Indiana, McMillan explained that he and the Pacers agreed to a modest contract extension before the NBA’s restart began in July — that deal was announced in August after rumors surfaced about his job security. When he agreed to the new contract, McMillan expected to have Domantas Sabonis available this summer and was anticipating a first-round series win.
“I thought about it and said, ‘Even though we hadn’t started the playoffs, I really thought at the time we were going to advance,'” McMillan told Kravitz. “I had all my players (except Jeremy Lamb). Domas was there. I always thought Victor (Oladipo) was going to play. We had everybody and I really thought we could get out of the first round. So I signed that extension thinking, ‘OK, next year we’ll be healthy and I’ll give it one more try.’
“And then we get down to the bubble and Domas has his injury and it was like, ‘Ohhhhh-kay,'” McMillan continued. “But I know what I said to myself and told the organization, for me, it was about getting out of the first round, so when the decision was made yesterday, I understood.”
McMillan also responded to criticism about his offensive system, which was viewed by some observers as outdated. The former Pacers coach explained that he wanted to play to the strengths of his roster, which included a pair of big men – Sabonis and Myles Turner – in the starting lineup.
“I would love to run. When I was a player, that’s the way I played,” McMillan told Kravitz. “But personnel dictates your style of play.”