Bottom Eight Teams Not Permitted To Start Making Trades
During a typical NBA league year, there’s a freeze on trades between the winter trade deadline and the end of a team’s season in the spring. Once the regular season ends, the 14 non-playoff teams are once again permitted to make trades, with other clubs regaining that ability as they’re eliminated from the postseason.
However, due to the unusual nature of the 2020 NBA calendar, things will look a little different this year. As Bobby Marks of ESPN explains, no teams are currently permitted to make trades, including the bottom eight teams who aren’t participating in the summer restart in Orlando. Even though the offseason has begun for those eight non-Orlando clubs (the Warriors, Timberwolves, Cavaliers, Pistons, Hawks, Knicks, Hornets, and Bulls), a transaction moratorium remains in place for them following last week’s brief transaction window.
According to Marks, the likely outcome is that the league and the players’ union will agree to lift the moratorium once the first round of the playoffs gets underway on August 17. At that point, non-playoff teams – including the six teams in Orlando that don’t make the postseason – would be allowed to make trades, waive players, and sign certain players to contract extensions.
Of course, while non-playoff teams are generally permitted to make trades and other roster moves as soon as the postseason gets underway, we usually don’t see the first trades of the offseason completed until around the time of the draft. So we shouldn’t expect a flurry of moves if the moratorium lifts in August — most of the offseason’s deals will still likely come in October, when the draft and free agent period take place.
For the time being, the only permissible NBA transaction is the signing of a substitute player. The 22 teams participating in the restart can sign a substitute to replace any player who voluntarily opts out or who contracts COVID-19. The player being replaced would subsequently become ineligible for the rest of the season.
Latest On NBA’s Coronavirus Testing Results
After announcing last week that 16 of the 302 NBA players who were tested for COVID-19 last Tuesday came back positive, the league has issued an update today on its latest coronavirus testing results. Here are the details, per the NBA:
- Of the 344 players tested between June 24-29, an additional nine players tested positive for COVID-19.
- That makes 25 of 351 total players who have been diagnosed with the coronavirus since mandatory testing began on Tuesday, June 23.
- Of the 884 team staff members who were tested between June 23-29, a total of 10 tested positive for the coronavirus.
Some of the 25 players who tested positive have been publicly identified, including Spencer Dinwiddie and DeAndre Jordan of the Nets. In other cases, teams have revealed that players on their roster tested positive without specifically identifying them, such as when the Pelicans announced they had three cases. In general though, the NBA and its teams won’t be announcing which specific players or staffers have tested positive, leaving that decision up to those individuals.
As the NBA notes in today’s announcement, any player, coach, or staffer who tests positive must self-quarantine until they satisfy public health protocols and have been cleared by a doctor. While some players, such as Jordan, may opt out of the NBA’s restart as a result of a coronavirus diagnosis, players will be permitted to rejoin their teams after their self-isolation period, assuming they’re asymptomatic and return multiple negative tests.
The NBA’s hope is that all COVID-19 cases around the league will be identified before teams and players travel to the Walt Disney World campus next week.
Northwest Notes: Blazers, Roberson, Thunder, Dozier
With Trevor Ariza unavailable for the NBA’s restart this summer, Damian Lillard thinks the Trail Blazers could opt for a big starting lineup that features Carmelo Anthony at the three (Twitter link via Royce Young of ESPN).
As Jason Quick of The Athletic writes, Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts confirmed that returning center Jusuf Nurkic will reenter the starting lineup alongside Lillard, Anthony, and CJ McCollum. That leaves one starting spot up for grabs, and if Portland goes big, Zach Collins or even Hassan Whiteside could occupy that last spot.
“I haven’t ruled out starting Hassan and Nurk together,” Stotts said when discussing the Trail Blazers’ lineup. “Why not? … It gives you something to write about.”
Stotts, who referred to Ariza as the Trail Blazers’ top perimeter defender, suggested that the team will fill that hole in its rotation with a “by-committee” approach. As Quick details, Anthony, Gary Trent Jr., Mario Hezonja, and Nassir Little could all play a role in that committee.
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- Thunder forward Andre Roberson, who hasn’t played in an NBA game in two-and-a-half years, has been participating in individual workouts at the club’s practice facility, head coach Billy Donovan told reporters on Wednesday (link via Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman). Roberson’s availability for the restart will be determined after the team sees him in action in five-on-five workouts.
- Chesapeake Energy Corporation, the company that owns the naming rights for the Thunder‘s arena, filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, as Royce Young of ESPN writes. Chesapeake’s agreement with the Thunder runs through the 2022/23 season — it’s not clear how that deal will be affected by the company’s bankruptcy.
- PJ Dozier‘s new deal with the Nuggets is a three-year pact that was completed the team’s using mid-level exception, as Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights notes (via Twitter). It features minimum salaries in all three seasons, including about $183K this season and a partial guarantee of $1.2MM in 2020/21, for a total guarantee in the neighborhood of $1.4MM.
Lou Williams Expected To Play In Restart; Beal Still Undecided
Seven players so far have opted out of the NBA’s restart this summer, but Clippers guard Lou Williams is unlikely to join that group. Despite previously expressing uncertainty about his status, Williams is expected to suit up for the Clippers as they pursue a title at Walt Disney World, head coach Doc Rivers said on Wednesday.
“As far as Lou, all indications (are) that yes, he is (playing),” Rivers said on a Zoom call, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com. “Obviously, up until we get on the plane, anything can happen. But I do expect Lou to be with us. I would be very surprised if he’s not.”
Meanwhile, another high-scoring guard, Bradley Beal, remains uncertain about his status for Orlando, as Youngmisuk writes in a separate story. Beal’s teammate Davis Bertans has already pulled out due to injury concerns ahead of his upcoming free agency. Beal’s backcourt mate and fellow All-Star John Wall won’t be in attendance either, as he continues to focus on his Achilles rehab and a 2020/21 return.
According to Youngmisuk, Beal is considering health factors too as he weighs his options.
“I have yet to make (my decision),” Beal told reporters on Wednesday. “I am still working my tail off every single day as if I am playing. It is more or less a decision that will come down to the medical staff and coming back from zero to 100, and then I have some nagging stuff from the end of the year that we are trying to clean up, too. We are looking at it from all angles. I am definitely working out every single day here. It is good to be back in the facility. … I am not swayed one way or another.”
Here’s more on certain players’ participation decisions:
- Pacers guard Justin Holiday, who was previously reported to be on the fence about whether to play this summer, announced this week in a Players’ Tribune piece that he’ll participate in the restart even as he continues to fight for social-justice causes.
- The Nets have been hit hardest by injuries and defections so far — they’ll be without Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Nicolas Claxton due to injuries, and Wilson Chandler and DeAndre Jordan are opting out of the restart. Spencer Dinwiddie is also still weighing his decision after a positive COVID-19 test, but outside of possibly Dinwiddie, general manager Sean Marks doesn’t anticipate any more opt-outs, writes Malika Andrews of ESPN.
- Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins said during a Wednesday Zoom call that he expects everyone on the club’s roster to participate this summer, per Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian. That includes some players who were injured when the season was suspended, such as Jaren Jackson Jr., Justise Winslow, and Brandon Clarke. It’s not clear yet whether Grayson Allen and Jontay Porter will be healthy enough to play, but both sound likely to accompany the team to Orlando.
Wizards Sign Jerian Grant
JULY 1: Grant has officially inked a deal with the Wizards to replace Bertans, per a press release on the team’s official site.
JUNE 25: The Wizards intend to sign free agent guard Jerian Grant as a substitute player for Davis Bertans, a source tells Wizards reporter Chris Miller (Twitter link). The deal will become official on July 1, Miller adds.
Bertans has decided to opt out of the NBA’s restart this summer in large part due to injury concerns. The Wizards have a full 15-man roster, but can sign a replacement for someone like Bertans, who voluntarily opts out and surrenders his salary for the eight seeding games.
That replacement will be Grant, who spent most of the 2019/20 season playing for Washington’s G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go, following a brief stint in China last fall. In 39 games (33.3 MPG) for the Go-Go, the veteran point guard averaged 16.3 PPG, 5.5 APG, and 4.4 RPG with an impressive .475/.441/.835 shooting line.
Grant, a former first-round pick who has previously played for the Knicks, Bulls, and Magic, will receive a rest-of-season, minimum-salary deal as a substitute player. The Washington, D.C. native will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end, and the Wizards won’t hold any form of Bird rights on him.
Grant will help provide depth in a Washington backcourt that will be missing point guard John Wall. Wall, who continues to recover from an Achilles tear, isn’t eligible to be replaced by a substitute player since he’ll be sidelined due to an injury rather than voluntarily opting out or being ruled out due to a health issue related to COVID-19.
Cauley-Stein Opting Out Of Restart; Mavs Sign Burke
JULY 1, 12:53pm: Burke has officially signed a contract, according to his Twitter feed.
JUNE 25, 12:32pm: Mavericks center Willie Cauley-Stein has opted to sit out of the NBA’s restart this summer, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who notes (via Twitter) that Cauley-Stein and his partner are expecting a newborn child in July.
Free agent guard Trey Burke has agreed to a rest-of-season deal with Dallas and will take Cauley-Stein’s place on the summer roster, per Charania (via Twitter). Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link) first reported that the Mavs had interest in signing Burke.
Burke, 27, was waived by the Sixers at this year’s trade deadline when Philadelphia needed a roster spot to accommodate incoming additions Glenn Robinson III and Alec Burks. Up until that point, the former lottery pick had been a solid offensive option off the bench for the 76ers, averaging 5.9 PPG and 2.1 APG on .465/.421/.722 shooting in 25 games (13.2 MPG).
Burke has some history with the Mavericks, having spent a portion of the 2018/19 season in Dallas after being traded by the Knicks. He recorded 9.7 PPG and 2.6 APG in 25 games (17.4 MPG) for the Mavs last season, and will help replace injured guard Jalen Brunson in the team’s backcourt this season. He’ll get a minimum-salary, rest-of-season deal and will become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
The Mavericks have a full 15-man roster and weren’t eligible to add a substitute player to replace any of their injured players (Dwight Powell, Courtney Lee, and Brunson). However, they don’t need an open roster spot to sign a replacement for a player who is voluntarily opting out, such as Cauley-Stein.
Cauley-Stein, who holds a $2.29MM player option for 2020/21, won’t be fined or suspended for deciding not to participate in the summer restart. However, he’ll forfeit some ’19/20 pay for sitting out, giving up 1/92.6th of his salary for each Mavs game he misses, up to a maximum of 14 contests. Cauley-Stein is the fourth player known to be opting out of the NBA’s return, joining Avery Bradley, Trevor Ariza, and Davis Bertans.
If the Mavericks want to make another addition to their roster to help fill the holes created by injuries, waiving Lee – who is on an expiring contract – would be an option. However, Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News tweeted earlier this week that the Mavs aren’t eager to release Lee, since they value his locker room impact and would like to have him in Orlando this summer.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Lakers Sign Veteran Guard J.R. Smith
JULY 1, 12:45pm: Smith has officially signed a contract with the team, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweets.
JUNE 29, 11:10am: The Lakers are expected to finalize a rest-of-season contract with free agent shooting guard J.R. Smith this week, league sources tell Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link). According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Smith and the Lakers are working through the final steps of a deal today.
Smith, 34, didn’t play in the NBA at all this season, but worked out for the Lakers in March before the league went on hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. When word broke last week that Avery Bradley was voluntarily opting out of the NBA’s restart, Smith was immediately identified as a leading candidate to replace him on L.A.’s summer roster.
Smith last played in the NBA in 2018/19, appearing in just 11 games for the Cavaliers before being waived in November of that season. In ’17/18, his last full season, he was a solid role player in Cleveland, averaging 8.3 PPG and 2.9 RPG with a .375 3PT% in 80 games (28.1 MPG).
As a substitute player, Smith will receive a rest-of-season, minimum-salary contract that won’t count against the Lakers’ cap. It will pay him just shy of $290K, which represents 20/177ths of the usual $2,564,753 minimum salary for a player with 10+ years of NBA service. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent after the season and L.A. won’t hold any form of Bird rights on him this fall.
Even with Bradley out, it’s not clear that Smith will actually see much action this summer. However, he becomes the latest intriguing character to join the Lakers’ depth chart on the wing — the team signed veteran shooting guard Dion Waiters shortly before play was suspended in March.
Assuming no other Lakers players voluntarily opt out of the resumption of the season, the club won’t have the ability to make another addition without cutting someone. Currently, all 17 roster spots are filled, with two-way players Devontae Cacok and Kostas Antetokounmpo joining the 15 players on standard contracts.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Recap Of Moves Made During NBA’s Transaction Window
The NBA went nearly three-and-a-half months without a single roster move being completed, as league business was put on hold during its coronavirus-related hiatus. However, that roster freeze was lifted last Tuesday (June 23), allowing the 22 teams going to Orlando this summer and the eight teams whose seasons are over to complete certain transactions during the next week.
Now that the transaction window has closed (as of 11:59pm ET on June 30), certain moves related to substitute players will still be permitted, as we detailed on Tuesday. In fact, today could be somewhat busy, as clubs who have already reached agreements with substitute players make those deals official after noon eastern time. However, the standard signings and two-way conversions that were permitted during the last week are now over for the season.
Listed below is a recap of the moves completed from June 23-30 during the NBA’s transaction window. Again, these are only transactions that become official this week, which is why substitute-player signings like J.R. Smith (Lakers) or Trey Burke (Mavericks) aren’t listed.
Brooklyn Nets
- Signed Tyler Johnson (story).
- Waived Theo Pinson (story).
Swapping in Johnson for Pinson will be the first of many changes the Nets make to their summer roster. Wilson Chandler and DeAndre Jordan have opted out and Spencer Dinwiddie‘s status is up in the air, so Brooklyn will have at least a couple replacement players to sign — Justin Anderson is expected to be one.
Johnson’s contract is a rest-of-season deal, so he’ll be an unrestricted free agent this fall.
Cleveland Cavaliers
- Signed Jordan Bell (story).
- Signed two-way player Dean Wade to a standard contract (story).
The Cavaliers entered the transaction window with a pair of open spots on their 15-man roster. They filled one with an outside signing (Bell) and promoted one of their two-way players (Wade) to occupy the other.
Both players received more than the minimum for the rest of 2019/20, with Wade getting $375K while Bell got $250K. In exchange, the Cavs get some flexibility on both contracts — Bell has a non-guaranteed salary for 2020/21, while Wade has three non-guaranteed seasons on his deal, through 2022/23.
Denver Nuggets
- Signed two-way player PJ Dozier to a standard contract (story).
- Signed Tyler Cook to two-way slot (story).
The Nuggets thought highly enough of Dozier to sign him to a new multiyear contract that includes more than $1MM in guaranteed money, which means he’ll get a significant partial guarantee on his 2020/21 salary. According to Jeff Siegel of Early Bird Rights (Twitter link), that partial guarantee is worth about $1.2MM and the deal includes a non-guaranteed salary for ’21/22.
Cook, meanwhile, slides into Dozier’s two-way slot as a replacement and will be a free agent at season’s end.
Detroit Pistons
- Signed Justin Patton (story).
The Pistons had a full roster when the NBA went on hiatus, but because Donta Hall‘s 10-day contract has since expired, they opened up a spot during the transaction window. They used it on Patton, whose new deal reportedly includes a non-guaranteed second year. The signing was Troy Weaver‘s first move as Detroit’s general manager.
Houston Rockets
- Signed David Nwaba (story).
- Waived Isaiah Hartenstein (story).
The Rockets made one of the more curious transactions of the last week, signing Nwaba to a two-year deal that reportedly includes $900K for this season, despite the fact that the swingman is still recovering from an Achilles tear and won’t be available in Orlando. Houston apparently viewed Nwaba as an ideal three-and-D fit and was willing to pay him nearly $1MM up front to get a team option on him for 2020/21.
Los Angeles Clippers
- Signed Joakim Noah (story).
Noah was just three days into a 10-day contract with the Clippers when the season was suspended in March. That deal was always viewed as a trial run that would likely lead to a rest-of-season commitment, so it came as no surprise when L.A. made that rest-of-season commitment last week.
Memphis Grizzlies
- Signed Anthony Tolliver (story).
Like Noah, Tolliver was on a 10-day contract before the season was suspended. And like Noah, his team – the Grizzlies – wanted to bring him back on a rest-of-season deal to fill its final open roster spot.
New York Knicks
- Claimed Theo Pinson off waivers (story).
- Claimed two-way player Jared Harper off waivers (story).
- Waived Allonzo Trier (story).
- Waived two-way player Kadeem Allen (story).
New Knicks president of basketball operations Leon Rose was active on the waiver wire this week, making the only two claims of the transaction window. Pinson has a team option for 2020/21, while Harper will be eligible for restricted free agency. Trier, meanwhile, had been up for restricted free agency but now hits the unrestricted market early.
Oklahoma City Thunder
- Signed two-way player Luguentz Dort to a standard contract (story).
- Signed Devon Hall to two-way slot (story).
The conversion of Dort’s contract was one of the least surprising moves of the week, as he has emerged into a consistent starter on the wing for the Thunder. Oklahoma City got him on a pretty team-friendly four-year minimum-salary deal, which runs through 2022/23. It’s fully guaranteed for ’20/21 with partial guarantees on the final two years.
Hall, a former Thunder draft pick, slides into Dort’s vacated two-way slot and will be a free agent at season’s end.
Philadelphia 76ers
- Signed Ryan Broekhoff to two-way slot (story).
The Sixers didn’t have any openings on their 15-man roster, but had a two-way slot available to be filled. They used it to add more shooting depth — Broekhoff, who will be a free agent this fall, knocked down 40.3% of his three-point attempts in a part-time role in two NBA seasons.
Phoenix Suns
- Signed Cameron Payne (story).
- Waived two-way player Jared Harper (story).
The Suns’ release of Harper was more than three months in the making and finally became official last week. Phoenix didn’t end up filling his two-way slot, but signed Payne to a two-year deal to take the open spot on the 15-man roster. Payne will add more backcourt depth for the restart this summer and the Suns will have the option of bringing him back for 2020/21 as well.
Sacramento Kings
- Signed Corey Brewer (story).
The Kings will enter the resumption of the season 3.5 games back of Memphis for the final playoff spot in the West. With an open roster spot, they prioritized a player who could contribute immediately, settling on Brewer, who played for Sacramento last season. He’ll give the Kings more depth on the wing, having signed a rest-of-season contract.
San Antonio Spurs
- Signed Tyler Zeller (story).
Another challenger for that No. 8 seed in the West, the Spurs needed some frontcourt depth after losing LaMarcus Aldridge to a shoulder injury that will sideline him for the rest of the 2019/20 season. Zeller represents a safe veteran option. His deal with San Antonio includes a non-guaranteed salary for next season.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Nuggets Sign Tyler Cook
JUNE 30: The Nuggets have officially signed Cook to a replacement two-way contract, the team announced today in a press release.
JUNE 26: After promoting PJ Dozier from a two-way deal to a standard contract, the Nuggets are expected to sign power forward Tyler Cook as their substitute two-way player, reports Nick Kosmider of The Athletic (via Twitter).
Cook, who received a two-way contract from Denver last summer, spent training camp and the preseason with Denver last fall, but was released before the regular season began. Cleveland claimed him off waivers and he spent most of the 2019/20 season either in the NBA or G League with the organization, later signing a pair of 10-day contracts with the Cavaliers.
Cook only played very limited minutes in 11 NBA games, but had a bigger role in the NBAGL, posting 12.9 PPG and 5.7 RPG in 29 games (21.3 MPG) for the Canton Charge and Oklahoma City Blue.
NBA teams typically aren’t permitted to fill their two-way contract slots with newly-signed players after January 15, but the 22 clubs participating in the restart have been given the opportunity to do so for depth purposes. Once Dozier is moved to the 15-man roster and Cook has been signed, Denver will have a full roster.
Restart Notes: Coronavirus, Announcers, Team Employees
In an appearance today on Time 100 Talks, commissioner Adam Silver once again expressed confidence in the NBA’s restart plan, but reiterated that the league won’t go “full-steam ahead” with that plan if there’s a significant spread of COVID-19 within the Orlando campus.
“Never full-steam ahead no matter what,” Silver said, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. “One thing we are learning about this virus as much is (it’s) unpredictable, and we and our players together with their union look at the data on a daily basis. If there were something to change that was outside of the scope of what we are playing for, certainly we would revisit our plans.
“We are testing daily,” Silver continued. “We haven’t put a precise number on it but if we were to see a large number of cases and see spread in our community, that would of course be a cause to stop as well.”
Here’s more on the NBA’s return to play:
- Although local play-by-play announcers and analysts won’t be on site at Walt Disney World to call games, the expectation is that network announcers will be in attendance, tweets Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. According to Jackson, 79-year-old Marv Albert won’t participate, so TNT’s games will be handled by Kevin Harlan, Brian Anderson, or Ian Eagle. ESPN’s Hubie Brown, who is 86, may also not be on site, per Andrew Marchand of The New York Post.
- Teams around the NBA have extended the contracts of basketball operations employees that would have expired on July 1, according to Jake Fischer (Twitter link), who hears from league sources that those deals have been extended through November 1.
- In an interesting piece for ESPN.com, Baxter Holmes examines the difficult conversations that a number of NBA general managers are having with employees. As Holmes writes, some staffers who may be uncomfortable about going to Orlando are worried that their commitment to the team may be viewed differently if they opt out, potentially complicating their job security. Other staffers, meanwhile, want to participate but may be at greater risk due to their age or health issues. GMs are telling employees that they shouldn’t feel pressured to participate, per Holmes.