Nikola Jokic Reports To Nuggets, Clears Quarantine
After a delay involving a positive coronavirus test and various travel complications, center Nikola Jokic has reported to the Nuggets at the Walt Disney World campus and has cleared quarantine, the team announced today (via Twitter). Jokic had been in his home country of Serbia before arriving in Florida.
Although Jokic has gone through his two-day quarantine period, he hasn’t yet been cleared to participate in practice, according to Chris Dempsey of Altitude Sports, who tweets that the big man is still waiting on results from “physical-type testing.” Jokic is watching the Nuggets’ Tuesday practice, Dempsey adds.
If the Nuggets – currently the No. 3 seed in the West – hope to make a deep playoff run, they’ll need Jokic at full health and full strength. The 25-year-old had been in the midst of another excellent season before the NBA went on hiatus, with averages of 20.2 PPG, 10.2 RPG, and 6.9 APG to go along with a .528 FG% in 65 games (32.3 MPG).
Jokic had been one of several Nuggets players whose arrival at the Disney campus had been delayed. A Monday report indicated that Gary Harris, Michael Porter Jr., Torrey Craig, and possibly Monte Morris aren’t there yet. However, there’s no indication that all of those players won’t eventually report and participate in the restart.
Michael Beasley Tests Positive For COVID-19, Leaves Campus
New Nets forward Michael Beasley has tested positive for the coronavirus and returned home, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). Malika Andrews and Tim Bontemps of ESPN first reported that Beasley had left the NBA’s Walt Disney World campus.
Beasley, who signed with the Nets last Thursday, arrived at Disney shortly after the rest of the team got there last week. As Andrews and Bontemps note, GM Sean Marks told reporters that Beasley would require negative coronavirus tests for six days before he’d receive the go-ahead to join Brooklyn for practices. Presumably, the veteran forward didn’t clear quarantine before testing positive. Now his roster status is up in the air, per Charania.
No NBA team has a more decimated roster right now than the Nets, who are missing a total of seven players from their original squad. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Nicolas Claxton are sidelined with injuries, Wilson Chandler voluntarily opted out, and DeAndre Jordan, Spencer Dinwiddie, and Taurean Prince have been ruled out following positive coronavirus tests.
Brooklyn has been able to sign substitute players to replace those four non-injured players, bringing aboard Jamal Crawford, Lance Thomas, Donta Hall, and Beasley. Now, however, the Nets may be the first club whose substitute player requires a substitute of his own.
Players who contract COVID-19 don’t have to be replaced, but Beasley had already been out of the NBA for over a year and now won’t be able to participate in the season’s ramp-up period before seeding games begin.
As such, it would make sense for Brooklyn to replace him, and Justin Anderson looks like the logical candidate to do so — he reportedly reached a deal with the Nets back in June and said during an appearance on the JWILLY Show (YouTube link) on Monday that he’s quarantining in an Orlando-area hotel as he prepares to officially sign his contract.
Nets Sign Lance Thomas As Substitute Player
3:03pm: The Nets have made it official, announcing in a press release that they’ve signed Thomas as a substitute player.
There’s no word yet on how the deal will affect Anderson.
2:56pm: The Nets have finalized an agreement with free agent forward Lance Thomas, sources tell Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link). Begley first reported over the weekend that Thomas was nearing a deal with Brooklyn.
Thomas hasn’t appeared in an NBA game in 2019/20, having been waived by the Nets before the regular season began last fall. The 32-year-old previously appeared in 392 regular season contests over eight seasons with New Orleans, Oklahoma City, and New York, averaging 5.2 PPG and 2.6 RPG. He last suited up for the Knicks in ’18/19, recording 4.5 PPG and 2.5 RPG in 46 games (17.0 MPG).
Word of Thomas’ agreement with the Nets comes on the heels of Justin Anderson saying during an appearance on the JWILLY Show (YouTube link) that he’s quarantining in an Orlando-area hotel as he prepares to officially sign his contract with Brooklyn, as Brian Lewis of The New York Post relays.
The Nets are allowed to sign substitute players to replace their four players who have either opted out of the restart (Wilson Chandler) or been ruled out due to COVID-19 (Spencer Dinwiddie, DeAndre Jordan, and Taurean Prince). So far, the team has officially signed three substitutes — Jamal Crawford, Michael Beasley, and Donta Hall.
While it’s possible that Brooklyn could sign both Thomas and Anderson, that would presumably mean a fifth player on the roster is being replaced. There has been no word yet that another Net has opted out or contracted the coronavirus, and the club has yet to formally announce the signing of either Thomas or Anderson, so we’ll await further updates.
Harrison Barnes Tested Positive For Coronavirus
Kings forward Harrison Barnes announced today (via Twitter) that he tested positive for COVID-19 before the team traveled to Walt Disney World last week and has yet to report to the NBA’s Florida campus as he awaits medical clearance.
“I’ve been primarily asymptomatic and am doing well,” Barnes wrote. “I’m quarantined and am abiding by the safety protocol until I’m cleared for action. I hope to join my team in Orlando when it is safe to do so!”
The NBA and NBPA announced on Monday that 19 players had tested positive for the coronavirus in their home markets since July 1. Presumably, Barnes was one of those 19 players. He’s at least the fourth Kings player known to have tested positive in the last month. Buddy Hield and Jabari Parker have since recovered and recently reported to Orlando, while Alex Len also contracted the virus in June.
So far, there’s no indication that the Kings intend to replace any of those affected players with substitute players. If Sacramento were to sign a substitute player, the player being replaced would become ineligible to play for the rest of the 2019/20 season.
Unlike teams who are already looking ahead of the postseason, the Kings will face some urgency to win games right away when their season resumes on July 31, since they’re four games out of the final playoff spot in the West. So if Barnes or any other player is affected by COVID-19 symptoms longer than anticipated, it’s possible Sacramento would consider making a move.
Pistons Notes: Tellem, Griffin, Wood, Patton
The Pistons are overhauling their front office this summer, hiring Troy Weaver as their new general manager and David Mincberg as an assistant GM, as former assistant GMs Malik Rose and Pat Garrity leave the organization.
Although Weaver is ostensibly atop the basketball operations hierarchy, basketball decisions figure to be something of a group effort. Senior advisor Ed Stefanski, who has served as the de facto head of basketball operations for the last two years, is still in the picture. And according to Sam Vecenie of The Athletic, sources around the NBA believe that vice chairman Arn Tellem “still has a significant voice in front office matters.”
The changing landscape in Detroit makes it unclear whose voice will be the loudest if there’s any disagreement on which player to draft in the lottery this fall. However, Vecenie – who has the Pistons picking seventh in his latest mock – suggests that Iowa State guard Tyrese Haliburton would be a nice fit, since he’s versatile to play alongside either Luke Kennard or Derrick Rose, if one of the two is traded.
Here’s more on the Pistons:
- James L. Edwards III and John Hollinger of The Athletic examine the Pistons’ future, with Hollinger arguing there’s no urgency to trade Blake Griffin and suggesting that Detroit should be reluctant to re-sign Christian Wood if the cost is higher than about $15-16MM annually.
- A first-round pick in 2017, Justin Patton has yet to enjoy much success at the NBA level, but the Pistons will give him a chance to earn a place on next year’s roster, as Keith Langlois of Pistons.com writes. While Patton is unlikely to replicate Wood’s success, Langlois points out that the signing of Patton is a low-risk, high-upside move not unlike last summer’s Wood waiver claim.
- Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press revisits Detroit’s pick of Kennard at No. 12 in the 2017 draft, noting that the sharpshooter has been one of the team’s more productive draft picks in recent years, even if Pistons fans would rather have one of the two players selected right after him (Donovan Mitchell or Bam Adebayo).
Dispute Between NBA, NBPA Over Oladipo’s Salary
The NBA and NBPA disagree about how Victor Oladipo‘s remaining salary should be handled, assuming he doesn’t play for the Pacers this summer, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.
As Windhorst notes, a player who voluntarily opts out of the NBA’s restart forfeits his game checks for this summer’s remaining contests (up to a maximum of 14 games). Conversely, a player who is unable to participate due to an injury will receive his remaining game checks.
Oladipo’s case falls into something of a grey area. He cited his health when announcing earlier this month that he had decided not to play this summer, and the Pacers haven’t signed a substitute player to replace him. However, he’s not technically considered an injured player since he had returned from his quad tendon injury well before the season was suspended in March. He has also since been cleared by both team and personal doctors to play this summer, sources tell Windhorst.
The players’ union believes that Oladipo should be paid his remaining salary, which works out to nearly $3MM. The league believes the All-Star guard is voluntarily opting out and shouldn’t be paid.
The NBA doesn’t want to set a precedent in case there are other players who decide to opt out despite being healthy enough to play. Oladipo’s public comments – in which he suggested he’s feeling healthy but wants to be cautious – have solidified the league’s position on the issue, Windhorst writes.
As we relayed on Monday evening, Oladipo may be reconsidering his decision to opt out of the restart, since he has felt good and faced no restrictions in practices. If he does suit up, he would – of course – receive the rest of his salary, rendering the dispute moot. If he doesn’t play, his remaining salary will be in jeopardy.
The Pacers, who want to retain Oladipo long-term and will look to avoid upsetting him at all ahead of his 2021 free agency, support the 28-year-old’s decision either way and are willing to pay him his salary whether or not he plays, sources tell ESPN.
While the NBA could defer to the Pacers and leave the decision up to them, that may also set a worrisome precedent, since other teams might not be as willing to pay players who opt out — especially if they’re not stars like Oladipo. I’d personally be surprised if Oladipo receives his remaining salary if he doesn’t participate in the restart, but we’ll have to wait and see how the situation plays out.
List Of Substitute Players Signed For NBA Restart
Our list of players who have opted out of the NBA restart (or who have been replaced after they contracted COVID-19) includes details on the substitute players who have been signed to replace them. However, not every player who has signed a substitute contract this summer is mentioned within that list.
Players who were signed in place of promoted two-way players or who filled empty two-way contract slots are also among those who technically signed “substitute contracts.” While they’re not replacing a specific player, they fall into the same category as those substitute players who have been signed as a result of opt-outs or positive coronavirus tests.
The following details, which don’t apply to players who signed traditional contracts, apply to substitute players:
- Their contracts (all of which are worth the minimum) don’t count against their teams’ salary caps.
- They’ll be unrestricted free agents at season’s end, even if they don’t yet have four years of NBA experience.
- They won’t have any form of Bird rights (including Non-Bird rights) at season’s end.
- Note: In a case like Jerian Grant‘s, his Bird rights will actually belong to his old team (the Magic) rather than his current team (the Wizards), since Orlando never renounced him.
Essentially, these substitute contracts are just meant to provide teams with enough bodies not to be short-handed in Orlando this summer. Clubs like the Nets that have to sign multiple substitute players won’t benefit from holding the rights to those players after the season and won’t have the opportunity to make them restricted free agents. However, they also won’t face any additional cap penalties by having to sign several substitute players.
Teams can sign substitute players up until the last day of the seeding games in mid-August. Even after that point, clubs can continue to sign substitute players to replace players who test positive for COVID-19, though substitutes signed in the postseason must have between zero and three years of NBA experience.
Listed below are the players who have signed substitute contracts for the summer. We’ll continue to update this list as more deals are finalized.
Brooklyn Nets
- Michael Beasley, F (story)
- Replaced Taurean Prince (coronavirus).
- Jamal Crawford, G (story)
- Replaced Spencer Dinwiddie (coronavirus).
- Donta Hall, F/C (story)
- Replaced DeAndre Jordan (coronavirus).
- Lance Thomas, F/C (story)
- Replaced Wilson Chandler (opted out).
- Justin Anderson, F (story)
- Replaced Michael Beasley (coronavirus).
Dallas Mavericks
- Trey Burke, G (story)
- Replaced Willie Cauley-Stein (opted out).
Denver Nuggets
- Tyler Cook, F (story)
- Filled open two-way slot following PJ Dozier‘s promotion to 15-man roster.
Houston Rockets
- Luc Mbah a Moute, F (story)
- Replaced Thabo Sefolosha (opted out).
Los Angeles Lakers
- J.R. Smith, G (story)
- Replaced Avery Bradley (opted out).
New Orleans Pelicans
- Sindarius Thornwell, G (story)
- Replaced Josh Gray (believed to be coronavirus).
Oklahoma City Thunder
- Devon Hall, G (story)
- Filled open two-way slot following Luguentz Dort‘s promotion to 15-man roster.
Philadelphia 76ers
- Ryan Broekhoff, G (story)
- Filled open two-way slot.
Portland Trail Blazers
- Jaylen Adams, G (story)
- Replaced Trevor Ariza (opted out).
Washington Wizards
- Jerian Grant, G (story)
- Replaced Davis Bertans (opted out).
- Jarrod Uthoff, F (story)
- Replaced Gary Payton II (coronavirus).
- Replaced Gary Payton II (coronavirus).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
L.A. Notes: Kawhi, Clippers, Lakers, KCP, Waiters
After appearing in 51 of the Clippers‘ 64 games before the NBA went on hiatus in March, star forward Kawhi Leonard said this week that he feels good and is ready to go, as Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times writes.
Clippers head coach Doc Rivers suggested there would be “no limits” on the former Finals MVP, who hasn’t played in back-to-back sets over the last couple seasons due to leg issues. However, Rivers acknowledged that the Clips’ priority will be to keep Leonard in top shape, which may mean not pushing him too hard during the eight seeding games.
“Kawhi is healthy for the most part,” Rivers said. “That still doesn’t mean that we don’t want to maintain him and get him through the first eight games and get ready for the playoffs. We want to be smart about this. Not just for Kawhi, it’s with everybody.”
Here’s more on the Clippers and their L.A. rivals:
- The Clippers will have 15 players available in Orlando when the season resumes, according to Greif, who notes in a separate Times story that the club didn’t bring rookie forward Mfiondu Kabengele or two-way center Johnathan Motley. Teams were permitted to bring up to 17 players to the NBA’s campus, but the Clips elected to “load up on medical personnel” to fill out their traveling party, writes Greif.
- Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is the leading candidate to replace Avery Bradley in the Lakers‘ starting lineup, head coach Frank Vogel said on Monday, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link). Bradley, who opted out of the rest of the season, started 44 games this year, typically alongside Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Danny Green, and JaVale McGee.
- With Bradley not playing this summer and Rajon Rondo sidelined due to a broken thumb, Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register wonders if Dion Waiters could assume some ball-handling duties off the bench for the Lakers. “Losing Rondo put more of a need on Dion’s skillset, so I look forward to seeing what he can do more as we get into games,” Vogel said.
International Notes: Monroe, Poythress, Brown, Lauvergne
Russian club Zenit St. Petersburg is interested in signing former NBA big man Greg Monroe for the 2020/21 season, according to Nikos Varlas of Eurohoops, who tweets that there are “ongoing talks” between the two sides.
Varlas suggests that Monroe is still considering both NBA and international options, with Zenit looking like one of the strongest contenders to sign him if he continues his career overseas. Monroe, the seventh overall pick in the 2010 draft, spent the 2019/20 campaign with Bayern Munich in Germany after nine years in the NBA.
Players like Monroe, who may prefer to seek an NBA deal, are in a tough spot, since European clubs are filling their rosters now while the NBA’s free agency period won’t begin for another three months. Some players with NBA aspirations may decide it’s not worth the risk to wait until the fall.
Here are a few more international updates on players with NBA experience:
- If Monroe ends up joining Zenit St. Petersburg, he’ll join another former NBA big man in the frontcourt — Zenit announced on Monday (via Twitter) that Alex Poythress has reached a one-year deal with the team. Poythress previously appeared in 52 NBA games for Philadelphia, Indiana, and Atlanta from 2017-19.
- Turkish team Fenerbache has agreed to a one-year contract with veteran point guard Lorenzo Brown, according to a press release. Brown has played in a total of 103 NBA regular season games since making his debut in 2013, making 26 appearances in 2018/19 for the eventual-champion Raptors before being waived last January.
- Veteran big man Joffrey Lauvergne, who suited up for the Nuggets, Thunder, Bulls, and Spurs from 2014-18, has signed a one-year deal with Lithuania’s Zalgiris Kaunas, the team announced in a press release (hat tip to Sportando). The Frenchman returned to Europe after his contract with San Antonio expired in 2018, spending the last two seasons with Fenerbahce.
Lakers’ Rajon Rondo Fractures Thumb, Out 6-8 Weeks
7:00pm: Head coach Frank Vogel said he expects Rondo “to be part of our playoff run,” according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
7:19am: The Lakers‘ backcourt depth has taken another hit, as the team announced late last night that point guard Rajon Rondo suffered a fractured right thumb during Sunday’s practice. Rondo will undergo surgery on the thumb and is expected to resume full basketball activities in about six-to-eight weeks, as Mike Trudell of Lakers.com tweets.
Rondo, 34, was playing a career-low 20.8 minutes per game this season after averaging 31.7 MPG during the first 13 years of his NBA career. Still, that made him a regular part of L.A.’s rotation off the bench. He has recorded 7.1 PPG, 5.0 APG, and 3.0 RPG in 48 games (three starts) in 2019/20.
With Rondo sidelined and Avery Bradley having voluntarily opting out of the restart, the Lakers will have to lean more heavily on some of their other backcourt options. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Danny Green, and Alex Caruso are all candidates to receive a bump in minutes, tweets Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
As Slater points out, recently-signed guards Dion Waiters and J.R. Smith also move up on the depth chart and move closer to assuming rotation roles with Bradley and Rondo out of the mix.
The Lakers won’t be eligible to sign anyone to replace Rondo, since the NBA’s transaction window closed on June 30. At this point, only substitute-player contracts can be signed — and substitute players are only eligible to replace those who are opting out or who contract COVID-19.
Although L.A. will be without Rondo for the eight seeding games and the start of the postseason, his timeline puts him on track to make it back later in the playoffs, assuming the Lakers – as expected – make a deep run. If he were to return to action eight weeks from today (September 7), the Lakers could be in the midst of the Western Conference semifinals at that time.
Malika Andrews and Dave McMenamin of ESPN first reported late on Sunday night that Rondo had suffered a significant hand injury.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.