Knicks Notes: Anthony, Head Coach, Free Agency
As they prepare for the 2020 NBA draft, the Knicks have “extensively” scouted North Carolina point guard Cole Anthony, a source tells Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Anthony, who currently ranks 11th on ESPN’s big board, could be an option for New York if the team doesn’t move up in the draft lottery. Currently, the Knicks are most likely to land at No. 7 or 8.
Begley cautions that just because the Knicks are doing a ton of homework on Anthony, that doesn’t mean they’ll draft him or even that they’re targeting him. After all, the club is also said to be keeping a close eye on RJ Hampton and is likely monitoring several other lottery prospects too.
Still, the Knicks’ potential interest in Anthony is worth keeping in mind. A report back in February – shortly after the team reached agreed to hire new president of basketball operations Leon Rose – suggested the Knicks intended to target a scoring point guard in the draft. And Anthony, who grew up in New York, has talked about having interest in joining the franchise.
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- In a mailbag for SNY.tv, Ian Begley discusses RJ Barrett‘s future, the Knicks’ draft plans, possible offseason trade targets, and more. Responding to one question about the head coaching situation, Begley says that he knows Tom Thibodeau is a strong candidate and that he expects Mike Miller to get an interview, but he’s not certain yet about any other specific candidates.
- Mike Vorkunov and Danny Leroux of The Athletic explore which players might be good options for the Knicks in free agency and discuss whether pursuing a Chris Paul trade would make sense for the organization. Leroux isn’t in favor of going after Paul, pointing to a few veteran point guards on the free agent market who would come at a more reasonable cost, albeit without CP3’s upside.
- In case you missed it over the weekend, we previewed the Knicks’ salary cap situation for the 2020/21 league year.
Southeast Notes: Magic, Hawks, Heat, Jones
After initially targeting Tuesday as the date for the potential reopening of their practice facility, the Magic delayed that target date to Wednesday, tweets Josh Robbins of The Athletic.
While there’s a chance that the team hits that target date and opens its facility today, Orlando is still waiting on coronavirus test results for some of its asymptomatic players and staffers, according to Robbins, who tweets that the Magic are in a “holding pattern” for the time being.
Although their plans remain fluid, the Magic appear likely to allow players to conduct individual workouts at their facility soon, something the Hawks did earlier this week.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has questioned the need to reopen his team’s facility, since his players have their own workout equipment and hoops, and the NBA is limiting players to an hour at a time at practice facilities. But Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk sees value in making his team’s facility available to players, as Chris Kirschner of The Athletic writes.
“You can certainly get a lot out of this,” Schlenk said. “You can get individual skill work, form stuff. For us, the focus this week is to really just get the guys back in the building and be able to get out of the house. It’s more the mental side than the physical side of things that we can get out of this. I’ve told the coaches that this isn’t the week to prove you’re the best individual coach in the league. This week is about getting the guys in here, getting their bodies moving.”
Here’s more from around the Southeast:
- Outside of the young core building blocks on their roster, it’s not clear how many of the Hawks‘ current complementary pieces might be keepers. Chris Kirschner of The Athletic digs into that subject by examining which of the team’s free-agents-to-be are most (and least) likely to return. In Kirschner’s view, Skal Labissiere and Jeff Teague are at least decent candidates to re-sign, but DeAndre’ Bembry, Treveon Graham, and Damian Jones probably aren’t.
- Speaking at a “virtual luncheon” earlier this week, Hawks CEO Steve Koonin said the franchise has committed to paying all of its full-time and part-time employees through at least the end of the fiscal year on June 30, per Tim Tucker of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- In his latest mailbag, Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel explores what it would take for the Heat to lose Derrick Jones in free agency this offseason and how the team would replace his minutes in that scenario.
- We rounded up a handful of Wizards-related items earlier today.
Latest On Potential Resumption Of NBA Season
The idea of the NBA resuming its 2019/20 season seemed to take a positive step forward on Tuesday evening as a result of a pair of news items. As we relayed, the NBPA sent a memo to agents informing them that the union’s sense is that players want to finish the season. Meanwhile, commissioner Adam Silver spoke to the league’s Board of Governors and conveyed a sense of optimism about the resumption of the season, suggesting that a decision might be possible within the next two-to-four weeks.
Both of those stories include several important details on the discussions that the league and its players are having, but we’ve got a few more related notes to pass along this morning. Let’s dive in…
- The NBA world is generally in agreement that it makes sense to wait until the “last possible minute” to make a decision on the season, in order to gain as much info as possible before then, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said this morning during a Get Up appearance (video link). However, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, there’s a sense that a decision can’t be put off until July. In other words, that decision is likely to be finalized in June.
- Wojnarowski and Charania both note that executives and players around the NBA – even on lottery teams – understand the financial ramifications tied to the decision on whether or not to complete the season. That understanding contributed to an “overwhelming” support among players for resuming and finishing the season, per Woj and Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press.
- According to Reynolds, the poll conducted by the NBPA on players’ desire to resume the season gave a “clear sense” that players would like to play not just the postseason but at least some of the regular season as well.
- However, Reynolds cautions that the methodology of the NBPA poll – including how many players responded – is unclear. And Marc Berman of The New York Post (Twitter link) hears from a source that there was some internal miscommunication in the union and that the poll was unauthorized. For what it’s worth, one player told The Los Angeles Times that he thought about 70% of players were in favor of completing the season, which wouldn’t exactly qualify as “overwhelming” support — but that could have just been a rough estimate.
- Once the league formalizes its plans for a return, it will aim to standardize coronavirus testing among the 30 teams, tweets Wojnarowski. “The biggest issue is the number of tests, and we can’t take tests from those who need it,” one source involved in Tuesday’s Board of Governors call told Charania.
- Silver also said on Tuesday’s call that if one positive test is enough to shut down the season, then “we probably shouldn’t go down this path,” tweets Wojnarowski. That means, as noted on Tuesday, that the league is prepared for some number of positive tests — it’s not clear how many would be too many.
Wizards Notes: Quickley, J. Smith, Draft, Facility
While they can’t meet in person with this year’s draft prospects, the Wizards are doing their homework on a number of players.
According to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington, the team has spoken to Kentucky’s Immanuel Quickley and intends to interview Maryland’s Jalen Smith this week. The Wizards have also touched base with Arizona’s Zeke Nnaji, as we noted on Tuesday.
While much of the draft speculation involving the Wizards will focus on the team’s lottery pick, the club is also projected to hold the 37th overall selection. The three players listed above could be candidates for that pick — Smith is ranked 30th on ESPN’s big board, with Nnaji coming in at No. 34 and Quickley at No. 54.
Hughes also points out that even if the Wizards don’t get a chance to draft any of those players, it makes sense to get as familiar with them as possible. For instance, after working him out a couple times, the team was high on Moritz Wagner leading up to the 2018 draft. Although they couldn’t justify picking him at No. 15, the Wizards ultimately ended up acquiring Wagner from the Lakers in a trade a year later.
Here’s more on the Wizards:
- In a two-part series, Sam Vecenie and Fred Katz of The Athletic break down what a number of different draft scenarios would look like for the Wizards, who will likely end up at No. 9 or 10 if they don’t get lucky in this year’s lottery. The Athletic’s duo have Washington selecting Anthony Edwards at No. 1 and view Tyrese Haliburton, Cole Anthony, and Devin Vassell as some of the team’s potential options in the 9-10 range.
- Head coach Scott Brooks said during an NBA TV appearance earlier this week that as long as “everything goes as planned,” the Wizards will reopen their practice facility for individual voluntary workouts on Friday, tweets Katz. As Katz notes, not all the Wizards players are still in the D.C. area, but some are.
- In case you missed it, Rui Hachimura earned a spot on Hoops Rumors’ All-Rookie Second Team for 2019/20, based on your votes. Check out the full results of our All-Rookie polls right here.
Pacific Notes: Suns, Tatum, Warriors, Kings
Celtics forward Jayson Tatum spoke this week about being enamored by the Suns leading up to the 2017 draft and hoping to fall to Phoenix at No. 4. According to Tatum, a meeting with the Suns’ then-coach Earl Watson a few days before the draft helped sell him on the organization. Speaking on Monday to Jay King of The Athletic, Watson confirmed that he was high on Tatum during the pre-draft process.
As Watson tells it, he wanted Tatum badly enough that he had some “uncomfortable” conversations with team owner Robert Sarver, who preferred Josh Jackson. Watson tells King that he tried to get the Suns to do whatever it took to get in position to land Tatum.
“I was pushing Tatum,” Watson said. “Like, we had to move up for Tatum, we had to get Tatum. And ownership chose Josh Jackson. … I knew the two players were dynamically different, but my vision was what’s the best fit for Devin Booker. Booker and Tatum, I think a combination like that right now would have been completely different than anything in the NBA at that age.”
Although Watson’s story is compelling, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 pushes back against the former head coach’s recollections of the 2017 draft. According to Gambadoro (via Twitter), the Suns had Tatum ranked ahead of Jackson on their board and would have drafted Tatum if they’d had the opportunity to do so.
As Gambadoro explains (via Twitter), since the Celtics initially controlled the No. 1 pick and had Tatum atop their board, the Suns had no avenue to move up to select the young forward. Presumably, when Boston swung a deal to move down to No. 3, the C’s had assurances that the Sixers and Lakers wouldn’t be trading out of the top two spots, which would have been Phoenix’s only path to Tatum.
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Teams around the NBA are reopening their practice facilities for individual voluntary workouts, but that won’t happen anytime soon for the Warriors, who are tentatively aiming for June 1, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic. As Slater observes, the last-place Dubs won’t have the same urgency to return to their building as some other California teams might, so they’re “waiting for the (government) order, not influencing it.”
- After Klay Thompson recently cautioned against assuming the Warriors‘ dynasty is over, fellow Splash Brother Stephen Curry conveyed a similar sentiment in an interview with Jermaine O’Neal (video link via Chris Montano). “It’s going to look different. It’s going to have a new cast of characters that are going to contribute at a high level,” Curry said. “But the DNA and the chemistry that us three (Curry, Thompson, and Draymond Green) have, we’re going to be in good shape coming out of this.”
- Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee takes a look at the financial toll that COVID-19 is taking on the Kings, who are preparing for the possibility of “tens of millions of dollars in uninsured losses.”
LeBron, Giannis, Curry, Other Stars United In Desire To Resume Season
NBPA president Chris Paul arranged a private conference call with a number of the league’s superstars on Monday to discuss the coronavirus ramifications and the potential resumption of the 2019/20 season, league sources tell Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
By the end of the conversation, per Haynes, those players were united in their desire to resume the season once the NBA ensures the necessary safety measures are in place and gets the green light. According to Haynes, LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stephen Curry, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard, Damian Lillard, and Russell Westbrook were among the players on the call.
As Haynes explains, the group’s decision is expected to carry significant weight at a time when not all of the NBA’s players are necessarily on board with the idea of completing the 2019/20 season this summer.
Sources tell Yahoo Sports that many players on teams who are all but eliminated from playoff contention would prefer to just have the top eight clubs in each conference finish the season. The fact that stars outside the playoff picture, such as Curry and Lillard, are in favor of resuming play is significant.
According to Haynes, there was also some concern among players after Friday’s call that the NBA wouldn’t be able to guarantee player safety, with a coronavirus vaccine not expected to be available until 2021 at the earliest. Commissioner Adam Silver assured players that the league will do all it can to create the safest possible conditions, and it sounds like the stars on Monday’s call are satisfied with that promise.
Haynes notes that there are some players out of the playoff picture who are worried about a canceled season negatively impacting the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. That’s an issue we’ve touched upon in recent days, with Adrian Wojnarowski, Bob Myers, and Mark Cuban among those who have suggested that lottery teams will have to prioritize the “greater good” of the league, since the NBA and its players would benefit financially over the long term from playing as many games as it safely can this year and next.
As we relayed earlier this afternoon, the NBPA has reportedly begun reaching out to individual players to get their feedback on whether or not they want the season to resume.
Hiatus Notes: NBPA, Playoffs, Warriors, Fans
The National Basketball Players Association has begun to poll its members on whether or not they want to resume the 2019/20 season, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. As Woj explains, the NBPA’s regional representatives are among the union officials asking players a “yes or no” question about their desire to return to play amid the coronavirus pandemic. The union has assured players that their individual responses will be kept confidential.
While it may seem like a given that players on contending teams will want to resume the season, there’s certainly no guarantee that players on all 30 clubs feel the same way. Even among players who have a chance to win a title in ’19/20, there could be differences of opinion based on potential safety and health concerns.
With Major League Baseball working on its own plan for a potential return to play, pitcher Sean Doolittle published a Twitter thread on Monday outlining concerns that he and other players would have as they consider suiting up for the season. Doolittle’s thread goes more in-depth and lays out more specific concerns than those we’ve heard publicly from basketball players, but I’d imagine there are many around the NBA who share some of his reservations.
For what it’s worth, the NBPA said in a statement to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link) that the union “is not engaging in and has not authorized any formal poll of its players.” As such, it sounds like the outreach being described by Wojnarowski is informal.
Here’s more on the coronavirus situation and its impact on the NBA:
- A source tells Marc Berman of The New York Post that one scenario the NBA has discussed as it explores the resumption of the 2019/20 season would see the eighth seed in each conference up for grabs, with the current eighth through 12th seeds participating in a play-in tournament. As Berman explains, it would provide an incentive for a handful of teams who are currently out of the postseason picture, while not requiring the clubs at the very bottom of the standings to return and participate. Of course, it’s just one of many ideas the league has explored.
- The Warriors still don’t expect they’ll be one of the teams playing games if and when the NBA resumes its season, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t want to be involved, writes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. According to Slater, one Warriors coach suggested that playing a handful of regular season games in the summer could essentially function as a “replacement summer league” for Golden State.
- The NBA and NBPA are forming a “working group” and will have a call on Tuesday to discuss potential return-to-play scenarios, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic. Charania tweets that Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Jayson Tatum, Kyle Lowry, and Dwight Powell will be among the players on the call.
- In an interesting piece for The Athletic, Bill Shea explores how the pandemic will impact the way fans attend sporting events, once they’re allowed to reenter arenas and stadiums.
NBA Cancels 2020 G League Elite Camp
The NBA has canceled its 2020 G League Elite Camp, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The event had been scheduled to take place from May 17-19, prior to the draft combine, so there was no expectation it would move forward as planned next week. However, it’s notable that it has been canceled rather than delayed, according to Charania’s report.
In a typical year, the Elite Camp would consist of 40 NBA G League invitees participating in the first half of the event before 40 top draft-eligible players (who weren’t invited to the combine) participate in the second half. The invites would have been sent out to players at the start of May.
[RELATED: Tentative 2020 NBA Draft Dates, Deadlines]
Last year, several draft-eligible prospects who took part in the G League Elite Camp were eventually drafted or received two-way contracts, including Cody Martin, Terance Mann, Justin Wright-Foreman, Tacko Fall, Dewan Hernandez, Oshae Brissett, and Tyler Cook, among others. The event gave non-combine players a chance to audition for NBA evaluators, so the fact that it won’t happen this year may result in some borderline prospects pulling their names from the draft pool.
A number of the G League players who participated in the 2019 Elite Camp also received NBA opportunities during the ’19/20 season, including Juan Toscano-Anderson, Mychal Mulder, and Norvel Pelle.
Draft Notes: Jones, Stanley, Oturu, Reed, Nnaji, Combine
A pair of early entrants out of Duke have signed with agents who aren’t NCAA-certified, officially signaling that they’ll go pro and remain in the 2020 NBA draft. Tre Jones has signed with BDA Sports, according to the agency’s Instagram account, while Cassius Stanley has joined ISE Basketball (Twitter link).
Both Blue Devils prospects had been expected to keep their names in the draft, so their moves to secure representation don’t come as a surprise. Both players are ranked in the top 50 on ESPN’s big board for 2020, with Jones coming in at No. 33 and Stanley at No. 50.
Here’s more on the 2020 draft:
- A couple more players on this year’s early entrants list have signed with agents and will remain in the draft. Minnesota big man Daniel Oturu has joined BDA Sports, per the agency (Instagram link). Meanwhile, DePaul’s Paul Reed has opted for Ron Shade of Octagon, tweets Evan Daniels of 247Sports.com. Oturu and Reed place 36th and 51st respectively on ESPN’s list of 2020’s top prospects.
- Arizona forward Zeke Nnaji has had virtual meetings with the Pelicans, Wizards, and Hornets so far, and has one lined up with the Jazz later this week, says Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link). A possible first-round pick, Nnaji is ranked 34th overall on ESPN’s big board.
- The NBA has sent teams ballots to vote on prospects they’d like to see participate in the 2020 draft combine, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The combine, originally scheduled to take place next week, has been postponed indefinitely, but the league still hopes to hold it in some revamped form, either in-person or virtually.
2020/21 Salary Cap Preview: Oklahoma City Thunder
Hoops Rumors is looking ahead at the 2020/21 salary cap situations for all 30 NBA teams. Due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the NBA, it’s impossible to know yet where the cap for 2020/21 will land. Given the league’s lost revenue, we’re assuming for now that it will stay the same as the ’19/20 cap, but it’s entirely possible it will end up higher or lower than that.
After trading away Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and Jerami Grant last July, the Thunder seemed on track for a rebuild. However, even after spending the offseason stockpiling draft picks, Oklahoma City still had too much talent on its roster to bottom out.
Instead of returning to the lottery, the Thunder emerged as a no-doubt playoff team in the West, entering the hiatus with a 40-24 record that placed them fifth in the conference. Some form of rebuilding is probably still around the corner for the franchise, but it looks as if OKC will be able to remain competitive during that transition.
Here’s where things stand for the Thunder financially in 2020/21, as we continue our Salary Cap Preview series:
Guaranteed Salary
- Chris Paul ($41,358,814)
- Steven Adams ($27,528,088)
- Dennis Schroder ($15,500,000)
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander ($4,141,320)
- Terrance Ferguson ($3,944,013)
- Darius Bazley ($2,399,160)
- Luguentz Dort ($1,517,981)
- Isaiah Roby ($1,517,981)
- Kyle Singler ($999,200) — Waived via stretch provision
- Patrick Patterson ($737,067) — Waived via stretch provision
- Total: $99,643,624
Player Options
- Mike Muscala ($2,283,034)
- Total: $2,283,034
Team Options
- Abdel Nader ($1,752,950) 1
- Deonte Burton ($1,663,861) 2
- Hamidou Diallo ($1,663,861)
- Total: $5,080,672
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- None
Restricted Free Agents
- Kevin Hervey (two-way qualifying offer / $1,445,697 cap hold): Non-Bird rights
- Total (cap holds): $1,445,697
Unrestricted Free Agents / Other Cap Holds
- Danilo Gallinari ($33,923,339): Bird rights
- Andre Roberson ($16,111,110): Bird rights
- No. 25 overall pick ($2,105,520)
- Nerlens Noel ($1,620,564): Early Bird rights
- Norris Cole ($1,620,564): Non-Bird rights 3
- Nick Collison ($1,620,564): Bird rights 3
- Raymond Felton ($1,620,564): Early Bird rights 3
- Jawun Evans ($1,445,697): Non-Bird rights 3
- Total: $60,067,922
Offseason Cap Outlook
A taxpaying team for all but one of the last six seasons, the Thunder are finally in position to remain below that threshold in 2020/21, even if the cap doesn’t increase.
Re-signing Gallinari would push team salary well beyond the cap, and even if they don’t bring him back, the Thunder figure to operate as an over-the-cap team. But there’s some flexibility here that Oklahoma City didn’t have in past seasons. That flexibility should only increase as pricey contracts for Paul, Adams, and Schroder expire in the next couple years.
Cap Exceptions Available
- Mid-level exception: $9,258,000 4
- Bi-annual exception: $3,623,000 4
- Trade exception: $10,389,997 (expires 7/10/20)
- Trade exception: $9,346,153 (expires 7/8/20)
- Trade exception: $1,620,564 (expires 1/25/21)
Footnotes
- If his team option is exercised, Nader’s salary remains non-guaranteed.
- If his team option is exercised, Burton’s salary becomes partially guaranteed for $1,174,336.
- The cap holds for Cole, Collison, Felton, and Evans remain on the Thunder’s books because they haven’t been renounced after going unsigned in 2019/20. They can’t be used in a sign-and-trade deal.
- These are projected values. If the Thunder’s team salary continues to increase, it’s possible they’d be limited to the taxpayer mid-level exception ($5,718,000).
Note: Minimum-salary and rookie-scale cap holds are based on the salary cap and could increase or decrease depending on where the cap lands.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and Early Bird Rights was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.