Lakers Notes: Kobe’s Memorial, Waiters, Roster
Nearly a month after Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna were killed in a tragic helicopter crash, a memorial service was held today at the Staples Center to honor their memory. Lakers GM Rob Pelinka, former teammate Shaquille O’Neal, Hornets owner Michael Jordan, and Kobe’s widow Vanessa Bryant were among those who spoke at the emotional event, as an ESPN story outlines.
In addition to publicly mourning her late husband on Monday, Vanessa Bryant has also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Island Express Helicopters Inc. and the “representative or successor” of pilot Ara Zobayan, per an ESPN and Associated Press report. The lawsuit claims that Zobayan was careless and negligent by flying in poor weather conditions rather than aborting the flight.
Here’s more on the Lakers and their late superstar:
- Dave McMenamin of ESPN has an in-depth look at how Lakers players and staffers found out about Bryant’s death on January 26. The team was flying from Philadelphia to Los Angeles following a five-game road trip when the news broke, making for a somber, miserable cross-country flight.
- On his latest Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst confirms that the Lakers met with Dion Waiters last week, as was expected. According to Windhorst (hat tip to RealGM), the team is “mulling” the idea of signing him, since it could use “perimeter player who can score a little bit.” However, L.A. will want to see what sort of condition the veteran guard is in. An earlier report suggested the Lakers may have to be won over by Waiters in the same way they were by Dwight Howard last summer.
- In case you missed it, the Lakers officially signed Markieff Morris on Sunday, waiving DeMarcus Cousins to make room on the roster. As we relayed earlier today, Cousins and the Lakers are said to have mutual interest in a new deal in the offseason.
Knicks Not Planning To Buy Out Veterans
The Knicks have no plans at the moment to buy out any of their veteran players on expiring or pseudo-expiring contracts, according to Steve Popper of Newsday.
New York began its post-All-Star schedule hoping to make a push for a playoff spot in the East and not intending to prioritize playing youngsters over veterans if it compromised the team’s ability to win games. That philosophy has meant that players like Reggie Bullock, Bobby Portis, and Taj Gibson are still key contributors rather than buyout candidates.
While it’s possible the Knicks will adjust their approach to late-season player development as their postseason hopes continue to fade, their position on buyouts isn’t expected to change, says Popper. The team still views many of its veteran contracts – several of which include team options or small partial guarantees for 2020/21 – as potential trade assets for the offseason, Popper adds.
Besides Bullock, Portis, and Gibson, Wayne Ellington and Maurice Harkless are among the vets who fit the mold of a typical buyout candidate, at least to some extent. However, if those players aren’t interested in buyouts, the Knicks would have little to gain from pursuing them — the team already has one of the NBA’s lowest payrolls for 2019/20 and the savings would be minimal.
Additionally, none of those players have more than $1MM in guaranteed money on their contracts for next season, so they could be easily cut loose if no trade materializes in the offseason and the Knicks decide to move on. The only real benefit to moving on from them now would be to open up an immediate roster spot or two for developmental projects.
For what it’s worth, players like Portis and Harkless have publicly suggested they’re not looking to go the buyout route.
Jeremy Lamb Out For Season With Torn ACL, Meniscus
Pacers wing Jeremy Lamb, who left Sunday’s game in Toronto with a knee injury, has been diagnosed with a torn left ACL, a torn meniscus, and a lateral femoral condylar fracture, the team announced today in a press release. Lamb will undergo surgery and will miss the rest of the 2019/20 season.
The injury occurred when Lamb went up for a dunk attempt in the second quarter. Raptors guard Terence Davis met him at the rim in an attempt to block the shot and Lamb landed awkwardly on his left leg. After the game, he referred to the play as a “freak accident” (Twitter link via Scott Agness of The Athletic).
The diagnosis is a devastating blow for the Pacers and for Lamb, who had been playing a key role for the team in his first season in Indiana. In 46 games (42 starts), the 27-year-old averaged 12.5 PPG and 4.3 RPG with a .451/.335/.836 shooting line in 28.1 minutes per contest.
The Pacers do have Victor Oladipo back in their lineup now, and Oladipo figures to play many of the minutes that belonged to Lamb during the first half of the season. Justin Holiday, Aaron Holiday, T.J. McConnell, and even Edmond Sumner are among the other players who could be relied upon more heavily with Lamb no longer an option.
Given the serious nature of Lamb’s injury, he’s unlikely to be ready for the start of the 2020/21 season. Although the Pacers haven’t offered a recovery timeline beyond ruling him out for this season, they’ll likely play it safe with the veteran swingman, who is under contract with the team through 2021/22. I’d be surprised if we see him back in Indiana’s lineup before 2021.
The Pacers aren’t eligible to apply for a disabled player exception to replace Lamb this season, since the deadline to apply for a DPE was January 15.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Northwest Notes: Beasley, Hernangomez, Layman, Dort
Malik Beasley and Juan Hernangomez played their old team for the first time on Sunday, suiting up for the Timberwolves against the Nuggets, less than three weeks after being traded to Minnesota. Before the game, Hernangomez was the more nostalgic of the two former Nuggets, praising the organization and the fans in Denver, as Mike Singer of The Denver Post details.
“I’m the man who I am because (of) Denver, because (of the) organization, all the teammates, all the coaches,” Hernangomez. “I just want to (say) thanks to everybody for making my dream come true, make the chance to a kid who was dreaming about the NBA, make believe it and make it true.”
Beasley was more pragmatic about seeing his old team, per Singer: “It’s a business, put it like that. It’s not about personal life or anything like that. It’s just a strict business. That’s how you gotta take it.”
According to Nick Kosmider of The Athletic, the Nuggets offered Beasley a multiyear extension worth “north of $10MM annually” last fall. When Beasley turned down that offer, it increased the odds that he wouldn’t remain in Denver long-term.
As Kosmider explains, the Nuggets have “strongly hinted” that they’d like to re-sign Jerami Grant, and they’ll also have to negotiate new deals with Paul Millsap and Torrey Craig this summer if they intend to keep them, which reduced the team’s spending power for RFAs-to-be like Beasley and Hernangomez.
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- Addressing the Timberwolves‘ recent acquisition of D’Angelo Russell, president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas said the NBA is “all about taking chances,” according to Ben Golliver of The Washington Post. “You have to pay a premium for good players,” Rosas said. “Not only did we need a point guard in our system, we needed a guy who fit our timeline and a guy who has already established himself as a player in this league. In those pursuits, you have to be comfortable hearing ‘no,’ and you have to be comfortable being patient.”
- Timberwolves forward Jake Layman, who has been sidelined since November 18 due to a toe injury, appears to be on the verge of returning to action. Layman was cleared to practice last week, per a press release, and is listed as probable for Monday’s game vs. Dallas (Twitter link).
- On the heels of one of the best games of his season, rookie Thunder swingman Luguentz Dort is making a case for a promotion to Oklahoma City’s 15-man roster, writes ESPN’s Royce Young. Dort, who scored 15 points on 6-of-6 shooting in a Sunday win over San Antonio, won’t be eligible for the postseason if he remains on his two-way contract.
Lakers, Cousins Have Mutual Interest In Offseason Deal
DeMarcus Cousins is currently on waivers after being released by the Lakers on Sunday to make room for Markieff Morris. However, sources tell Joe Vardon of The Athletic that both sides have expressed interest in pursuing a new deal in the offseason.
Even after being cut by the Lakers, Cousins is expected to continue rehabbing his torn ACL at the club’s practice facility. Not being on the roster means the big man can no longer travel with the team or sit on the bench during games, but the two sides are clearly still on good terms.
There was a belief that Cousins’ close relationship with multiple Lakers players – including former Pelicans teammate Anthony Davis – and the possibility of recovering from his ACL tear by the playoffs might keep his roster spot safe. However, despite some optimism about Cousins’ rehab timetable, the idea that he’d be able to contribute in the postseason this spring always seemed overly aggressive, as I noted last week when head coach Frank Vogel left the door open for the 29-year-old’s return.
In recent years, players like Zach LaVine, Jabari Parker, and Kristaps Porzingis, who have suffered torn ACLs, have taken at least 11-12 months to make it back, and it has generally taken them much longer than that to look like their old selves. Cousins tore his left ACL last August, after previously recovering from a torn Achilles and torn quad in the same leg.
By the time opening night arrives in 2020/21, Cousins will have had upwards of 14 months to recover from the injury, so that seems like a safer, more realistic target date. As such, waiving him instead of a healthy bench player was the logical move for the Lakers.
Because they’ve waived him, the Lakers will no longer have Cousins’ Non-Bird rights this offseason, but after so many major injuries – and with so many teams lacking cap flexibility – he’s unlikely to command significant offers on the open market. L.A. could potentially bring him back using the minimum salary exception or part of the mid-level exception.
It’s worth noting that if Cousins were to sign a new one-year contract with the Lakers in July and play out that deal, the club would hold his Early Bird rights in the summer of 2021. That would give L.A. the flexibility to offer him a significant raise if he has a strong bounce-back season.
10-Day Contract Salaries For 2019/20
There is technically no set salary for a 10-day contract in the NBA. If a player and a team agree to a 10-day deal, they’re free to negotiate a salary using any cap room or exceptions that the team has available.
In practice though, a 10-day contract is virtually always worth the minimum salary. After all, a player who lacks the leverage to get more than a 10-day commitment from a club isn’t really in a position to negotiate a salary higher than the minimum.
Based on the minimum salaries for 2019/20 then, we can determine how much a player on a 10-day contract will earn this season. A 10-day minimum salary is worth 10/177ths of the full-season minimum salary, since there are 177 days in an NBA regular season.
Minimum-salary rates are based on a player’s NBA experience. If a player spent any time on a club’s active regular season roster in a given season, he earned one year of experience. So any player with zero years of experience had not made his NBA debut before 2019/20. A player with 10+ years of experience who signs a 10-day deal, such as Jeff Green (Rockets), will earn nearly three times as much money during that 10-day stint as a rookie like Donta Hall (Pistons).
[RELATED: Hoops Rumors’ 10-Day Contract Tracker]
It’s also worth noting that because the NBA doesn’t want teams to avoid signing veteran players in favor of cheaper, younger players, the league reimburses clubs who sign veterans with three or more years of experience to minimum-salary contracts (as long as they’re not multiyear deals). As such, a 10-day contract for a veteran will only count against the cap – and against a team’s bank balance – for $91,557, the minimum salary for a player with two years of experience.
Here’s the full 10-day salary breakdown for 2019/20:
| Years in NBA | Salary | Cap hit |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | $50,752 | $50,752 |
| 1 | $81,678 | $81,678 |
| 2 | $91,557 | $91,557 |
| 3 | $94,851 | $91,557 |
| 4 | $98,144 | $91,557 |
| 5 | $106,377 | $91,557 |
| 6 | $114,610 | $91,557 |
| 7 | $122,843 | $91,557 |
| 8 | $131,076 | $91,557 |
| 9 | $131,728 | $91,557 |
| 10+ | $144,901 | $91,557 |
There’s one exception to the rates listed above — because a 10-day contract must cover at least three games, deals signed just before the All-Star break often run for more than 10 days. For example, when Malik Newman and J.P. Macura signed with the Cavaliers on February 9, they technically received “13-day” contracts, since the Cavs’ third game wasn’t until February 21.
In cases like that, Newman and Macura would simply receive 13/177ths of the full-season minimum salary instead of 10/177ths. For a rookie like Newman, that meant a bump from $50,752 to $65,978. For Macura, who had one year of NBA experience under his belt, it resulted in an increase from $81,678 to $106,181.
NBA To Weigh Mavs’ Protest Before Disciplining Cuban
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban will almost certainly face some form of discipline for criticizing referees on social media and to reporters following his team’s loss in Atlanta on Saturday. However, the NBA isn’t expected to announce a penalty for Cuban until after commissioner Adam Silver has ruled on the Mavs’ protest of Saturday’s loss, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim MacMahon.
“We’re going to review the matter in its totality,” NBA spokesperson Mike Bass told ESPN.
As we detailed on Sunday, the Mavs filed a protest of Saturday’s loss, arguing that officials misapplied rules on a play in the final minute of the game. The play a question saw Mavs forward Dorian Finney-Smith block a Trae Young layup attempt, with Hawks big man John Collins scoring on a putback. Initially, goaltending was called on Young’s shot, but when a replay showed the block was clean, referees allowed the follow-up basket, citing an inadvertent whistle and saying Collins was in a shooting motion before the whistle blew.
In his postgame comments, Cuban blasted not only that end-of-game call, but the NBA’s entire referee development program. As the league weighs potential discipline for Cuban, it will take into account that the Mavs owner has already been fined approximately $2MM over the years for similar comments on officiating. Silver is also expected to consider the fact that Cuban came onto the court twice during dead-ball situations near the end of Saturday’s game, per Wojnarowski and MacMahon.
Presumably, if Dallas’ protest is upheld, the NBA will be a little more lenient on Cuban. However, even though it was a tough break for the Mavs, it appeared that the rules were applied properly and it’s unlikely to meet the high bar required for the league to rule that part of a game should be replayed, in the view of John Hollinger of The Athletic.
“You’ve got better odds of seeing Boban Marjanovic on a mount in the Kentucky Derby than you do of seeing the Mavs’ protest upheld,” Hollinger wrote.
Once a protest is filed, the two teams involved have five days to submit relevant evidence to the NBA. After that five-day window, Silver has another five days to make a final ruling. Typically the process moves a little quicker than that though — when the Rockets protested a loss to the Spurs in December, the NBA denied the protest just four days later. In other words, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Mavs’ protest and Cuban’s punishment are both resolved by the end of the week.
Warriors Sign Dragan Bender To 10-Day Contract
FEBRUARY 23: The signing is official, the Warriors announced on Twitter.
FEBRUARY 20: The Warriors intend to sign free agent big man Dragan Bender to a 10-day contract, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who adds (via Twitter) that the deal is expected to be completed on Sunday. Emiliano Carchia of Sportando first reported that Golden State was considering bringing in Bender on a 10-day pact.
Bender, the fourth overall pick in the 2016 draft, spent three seasons in Phoenix before joining the Bucks for the 2019/20 season. The 22-year-old was on Milwaukee’s roster until earlier this month despite appearing in just seven NBA games, but was waived when the team needed to make room for Marvin Williams.
With career averages of 5.2 PPG and 3.7 RPG in 178 NBA contests (20.0 MPG), Bender hasn’t delivered on the potential that made him a top-five pick in 2016. However, the Warriors had some success developing the Suns’ other ’16 lottery pick – Marquese Chriss – this season, so perhaps the team can also make positive strides with Bender.
The Warriors currently have three open roster spots after Jeremy Pargo‘s and Zach Norvell‘s 10-day contracts expired earlier this week. Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link) suggested the team plans to roll with 12 players for tonight’s game, at least, since not immediately filling those open roster spots will help the club remain comfortably below the tax.
Bender will make $94,851 on his 10-day contract, with Golden State taking on a $91,557 cap hit.
Knicks, Harkless Not Planning On Buyout
FEBRUARY 21, 6:05pm: Harkless plans to remain with the Knicks for the rest of the season, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets.
FEBRUARY 20, 9:15am: When the Clippers acquired Marcus Morris from the Knicks two weeks ago, they sent Maurice Harkless to New York as a salary-matching piece. With Harkless on an expiring contract and New York well out of the playoff race, there was speculation that his new team may be willing to buy out the veteran forward to allow him to join a contender.
As Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic reports (via Twitter), Harkless said on Wednesday that he hasn’t initiated any buyout talks with the Knicks. However, the 26-year-old didn’t entirely rule out the possibility, suggesting he and his agent may discuss a potential buyout at some point and weigh whether he wants to finish the season with a playoff team.
Harkless appeared in 50 games (38 starts) with the Clippers before being dealt at the deadline. His counting stats (5.5 PPG and 4.0 RPG in 22.8 MPG) were modest, but he was a solid complementary piece alongside a handful of ball-dominant players in L.A., providing good perimeter defense and shooting well (.516 FG%, .370 3PT%) when he did end up with the ball.
A New York native, Harkless said upon being traded to the Knicks that it was a “dream come true” to join the club he grew up rooting for. So it’s possible his desire to finish the season with his hometown team may outweigh his interest in signing with a contender. Even if he seeks a buyout, the Knicks would have to be willing to negotiate the terms of his release.
If the two sides end up pursuing a buyout agreement, they’ll do so by March 1 to ensure Harkless retains his postseason eligibility. A player who is waived on March 2 or a later date can’t appear in the playoffs for a new team.
Harkless wouldn’t be able to re-sign with the Clippers if he’s bought out, but any other team would be fair game. There have been rumors suggesting that Los Angeles’ other team, the Lakers, would have interest.
Pistons Buy Out Markieff Morris
2:49pm: The Pistons have made it official, announcing in a press release that they’ve bought out Morris. He’s on track to clear waivers on Sunday.
2:32pm: Just three days after buying out point guard Reggie Jackson, the Pistons have reached a buyout agreement with another veteran contributor, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports (via Twitter) that the club is buying out forward Markieff Morris.
Morris, 30, has appeared in 44 games for the Pistons this season, averaging 11.0 PPG and 3.9 RPG with a .450/.397/.772 shooting line in 22.5 minutes per contest.
Morris’ two-year contract with Detroit paid him $3.2MM this season and included a $3.36MM player option for next season. Presumably, if he had finished the season with the Pistons, he would have opted out and tested the free agent market, so it’ll be interesting to see how much money he gives up as part of the buyout agreement.
According to Charania (via Twitter), the Lakers have emerged as a frontrunner for Morris. That would add a new layer of intrigue to a potential Los Angeles showdown in the Western Conference playoffs, since the Clippers added Morris’ twin Marcus Morris in a deadline deal earlier this month.
The Raptors have also expressed interest in Markieff, Charania adds.