Trevor Booker Drawing Interest From NBA Teams?
Veteran forward Trevor Booker hasn’t played an NBA game since the 2017/18 season, but he remains on teams’ radars, according to Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Sources tell Kennedy that Booker has received interest from several NBA clubs, with a handful of playoff teams among those monitoring him.
Booker, an eight-year NBA veteran, appeared in a total of 68 games during the 2017/18 campaign for the Nets, Sixers, and Pacers, averaging 6.3 PPG and 4.7 RPG in 17.0 MPG. After failing to catch on with an NBA team in the summer of 2018, he signed with China’s Shanxi Brave Dragons, but left the team early in the season and returned stateside to undergo foot surgery.
During the 2019 offseason, Booker worked out for multiple potential suitors, including the Nuggets, Bucks, and Clippers. Although he didn’t find a new NBA home at that point, he’s still just 32 years old and hasn’t given up on a comeback.
According to Kennedy, it’s “very possible” a team in need of frontcourt depth will sign Booker at some point after the February 6 trade deadline.
Kobe Bryant On Track To Headline 2020 Hall Of Fame Class
Late Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant is on track for a first-ballot enshrinement into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame this year, as Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
Bryant, who was among the eligible candidates announced last month, will be part of the Hall’s standard screening process this week, then is expected to be named a finalist in February and an inductee in April, per Charania (Twitter link).
[RELATED: Kobe Bryant dies in helicopter crash]
In addition to featuring Bryant, the Hall of Fame’s class of 2020 is expected to include Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett, who are eligible for the first time this year. Players like Chris Bosh, Shawn Marion, and Michael Finley are also first-time nominees and Hall-of-Fame hopefuls. The list of inductees will be announced during the NCAA’s Final Four in Atlanta this spring.
“(The class of 2020 is) expected to be arguably the most epic class ever with Kobe, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett,” Hall of Fame chairman Jerry Colangelo said, according to Charania. “Kobe will be honored the way he should be.”
The enshrinement ceremony for the class of 2020 will take place on August 29 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Given the circumstances surrounding Bryant’s induction, it figures to be an emotional event.
Central Notes: Cavaliers, Bulls, Oladipo
Following last Thursday’s loss to the Wizards, Cavaliers players expressed disappointment that the team doesn’t seem to be making any positive progress, as Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com details. Tristan Thompson suggested the club seems to be “at a standstill,” while Kevin Love said he feels as if the Cavs should be better than they are.
“We have to start trending in the right direction again because we felt like we were playing good basketball, even in a couple of the losses we had, and these are uncharacteristic — losing by double-digits to these two teams,” Love said following a series of Cavaliers losses to Chicago, New York, and Washington. “Nothing against them, we just feel like similar records and these are teams we can compete with, especially on our home floor. We should have a chance to really win.”
While the Cavaliers may shake up their roster a little prior to the trade deadline, there are no guarantees that veterans like Thompson and Love will be moved, so it’s no surprise they’d like to see the team become more competitive if they’re going to remain in Cleveland for the rest of the season. Things didn’t get any better on Saturday, when the Cavs lost at home to the Bulls to extend their losing streak to seven games.
Here’s more from around the Central:
- Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times wonders if there’s any chance the Bulls could be buyers, rather than sellers, at this year’s trade deadline. Head coach Jim Boylen said those conversations haven’t taken place yet – at least not with him in the room – but he’d be happy if the team stands pat. “I love the guys we have, and we’re going to keep coaching and teaching the guys we have, and I’ve got a good group, a willing group, a coachable group,” Boylen said. “It’s going to be ‘we and us,’ and ‘we and us’ are going to keep working.”
- Nathan Brown of The Indianapolis Star spoke to knee specialist Dr. Rodney Benner to get a sense of what Pacers star Victor Oladipo might look like upon returning from his year-long injury. “It’s going to be a little bit, trial-and-error isn’t the right word for it, but there’s going to be some adjusting of activity up and down to see what he can handle, just because it’s such an uncommon injury that it’s hard to predict,” Benner said of Oladipo, who remains on track to make his season debut on Wednesday.
- In case you missed it, we passed along a handful of Bulls notes and Pacers items over the weekend.
Grizzlies Rule Grayson Allen Out Indefinitely, Recall Josh Jackson
Another Grizzlies bench player will be sidelined for the foreseeable future, as the team announced today in a press release that Grayson Allen will be out indefinitely with a hip injury. According to the club, the injury – which occurred when Allen fell awkwardly on his left leg during Friday’s game vs. Detroit – will require “offloading” to heal.
A first-round pick in 2018, Allen was acquired by Memphis in last summer’s Mike Conley blockbuster. The second-year shooting guard has been limited to 30 games this season due to health issues, but has had a fairly regular rotation role when healthy. He was averaging 7.2 PPG on .494/.375/.833 shooting in the 16 games leading up to his injury.
The Grizzlies are now down three roster players, with Bruno Caboclo on the shelf due to a knee injury and Andre Iguodala away from the team while he awaits a trade. Jae Crowder also missed Sunday’s game with knee soreness, though there’s no indication that’s a major issue.
To add some depth to their rotation, the Grizzlies have recalled former No. 4 overall pick Josh Jackson for the first time this season, according to the team (Twitter link). Jackson, also acquired in a trade last summer, has spent the entire 2019/20 campaign in the G League, averaging 20.3 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 4.3 APG, 1.5 BPG, and 1.4 SPG in 26 games for the Memphis Hustle.
As Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian observes (via Twitter), the Grizzlies had been reluctant to call up Jackson to the NBA roster without a clearer path to playing time. It remains to be seen whether or not he’ll be inserted into the rotation with Allen out, but at the very least, he’ll travel with the team for now and provide emergency depth.
More Reactions To Kobe Bryant’s Death
Despite some speculation that Sunday night’s games might be cancelled in the wake of Kobe Bryant‘s death, the NBA moved forward with those contests. Moments of silence were held before the games, eight- and 24-second violations were committed in Bryant’s honor, and many players admitted to being preoccupied with thoughts of the longtime Lakers star.
Trail Blazers forward Carmelo Anthony, who played on multiple Team USA squads with Bryant, said that basketball “was the furthest thing on my mind,” but that he believed Kobe would have wanted him to play, per Jason Quick of The Athletic.
“This probably was the hardest game I ever had to play,” Anthony said after scoring 14 points in the Blazers’ home win over Indiana. “Just uh … I don’t know … whoooo. It was tough. It was tough.”
Kyrie Irving, who was held out of Sunday’s Nets contest in New York for “personal reasons,” was said to be devastated by the death of Bryant, who had been his idol growing up, as Brian Lewis of The New York Post details. According to Lewis, Irving left the arena altogether after hearing the news.
“I was with him. I’ll keep [the scene] private, but they were very close,” head coach Kenny Atkinson said of Irving. “Tough, tough, tough, tough times.”
There were “heavy hearts” in the other Madison Square Garden locker room as well, according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic, who suggests that many Knicks players didn’t feel like going forward with the game.
“Somebody said to me earlier, ‘Superman is not supposed to die,'” Knicks forward Marcus Morris said. “And to us, he was Superman. I just feel sorry for his family. And the other passengers on there, I feel sorry for their families. It’s just a tough day.”
Blake Murphy of The Athletic provides a look at the Spurs and Raptors players who were heartbroken by the news, while Chris Kirschner of The Athletic looks at the reaction of Hawks guard Trae Young, who received a congratulatory FaceTime call from Kobe and his daughter Gianna after he was named an All-Star starter. Young, who began the game wearing a No. 8 jersey, became the first player to record a 45-point double double on fewer than 25 field goal attempts since Bryant did it in 2006.
Here’s more:
- According to a report from CBS Los Angeles, the nine people who were killed in Sunday’s helicopter crash have all been identified. Several of those victims have since been profiled by various outlets, with Alden Gonzalez of ESPN discussing Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, Scott Gleeson of USA Today writing about girls basketball coach Christina Mauser, and Molly Knight of The Athletic remembering Kobe’s 13-year-old daughter Gigi Bryant.
- More details are emerging on the circumstances surrounding Sunday’s crash, according to Paula Lavigne of ESPN, who writes that the Los Angeles Police Department had grounded its helicopters on Sunday morning due to foggy conditions. It remains to be seen whether those visibility issues were the reason for the crash, and the full investigation may take weeks, writes Mark Medina of USA Today.
- Tania Ganguli and Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times explore how Lakers players reacted to the death of the franchise legend.
- Howard Beck of Bleacher Report, who was one of a handful of full-time Lakers beat writers during Kobe’s early years, examines how Bryant evolved into an NBA icon.
- The list of current players who looked up to Bryant and counted on him for advice is long, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic, who notes that LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Kawhi Leonard were among the superstars who fit that bill.
- An ESPN report details the worldwide impact of Bryant’s death, sharing reactions from around Europe and Asia.
NBA Moves Forward With Sunday’s Games In Wake Of Kobe’s Death
In the wake of the tragic news that Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter have died in a helicopter crash, there was uncertainty over whether the NBA would move forward with tonight’s slate of games. Although the league hasn’t officially confirmed that all of Sunday’s games will be played, two of them are already underway and there’s no indication that any of the rest will be cancelled.
Tributary moments of silence were held during the day’s afternoon games in Denver and San Antonio. Another is planned in Atlanta for tonight’s Hawks/Wizards tilt, according to Sarah K. Spencer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Twitter link). The rest of Sunday’s games will almost certainly follow suit.
At the start of this afternoon’s contest between the Spurs and Raptors, the two teams exchanged 24-second shot clock violations in tribute to Bryant’s jersey, No. 24 (video link). Fans in San Antonio chanted “Kobe!” and gave a standing ovation.
The Lakers are not in action today.
Alex Kirschenbaum contributed to this post.
Kobe Bryant Dies In Helicopter Crash
Lakers legend Kobe Bryant died in a helicopter crash on Sunday morning in Calabasas, California, according to a report from TMZ. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter) is among those who have confirmed the report.
Bryant and eight other people are dead after his private helicopter crashed and caught fire on a hillside in the Calabasas area, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva (Twitter link). Initial reports from TMZ and others had indicated that Bryant was one of just five people on board, but Villanueva confirmed there were eight passengers, plus the pilot.
Kobe’s wife Vanessa Bryant wasn’t among the passengers on the helicopter, according to TMZ. However, reps for Bryant tell TMZ Sports that his 13-year-old daughter Gianna Maria Onore was also on board and died in the crash.
TMZ’s report suggests that the helicopter was on the way to the Mamba Academy in Thousand Oaks for a basketball practice, while Wojnarowki reports that it was en route to a travel basketball game. According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), another player and parent were also on board.
It’s a shocking and devastating development for the NBA community. Bryant, who was just 41 years old, is considered one of the league’s greatest players of all-time and is only four years removed from appearing in his final All-Star Game. Although Bryant was a Laker for his entire career, he’s connected in various ways to a number of franchises around the NBA, as Anthony Slater of The Athletic observes (via Twitter).
Many of today’s stars also grew up idolizing Kobe, a five-time NBA champion who earned 15 All-NBA nods, 18 All-Star berths, 12 All-Defensive honors, a pair of scoring titles, and is the league’s fourth all-time leading scorer, averaging 25.0 PPG in 1,346 career regular season games. Both of the uniform numbers he wore for the Lakers – Nos. 8 and 24 – have been retired by the franchise.
Following his retirement in 2016, Bryant hosted offseason camps for current NBA players, most recently in the summer of 2019. Besides stars like Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Kyrie Irving, young players such as Jamal Murray, John Collins, and Aaron Gordon participated in those camps.
News of Bryant’s death comes less than 24 hours after LeBron James passed him in all-time points. Bryant’s last tweet, published on Saturday, lauded James for “continuing to move the game forward.” LeBron, meanwhile, was effusive in his praise for Bryant this week.
“It’s another guy that I looked up to when I was in grade school and high school,” LeBron said, per ESPN. “Seeing him come straight out of high school, he is someone that I used as inspiration. It was like, wow. Seeing a kid, 17 years old, come into the NBA and trying to make an impact on a franchise, I used it as motivation. He helped me before he even knew of me because of what he was able to do. So, just to be able to, at this point of my career, to share the same jersey that he wore, be with this historical franchise and just represent the purple and gold, it’s very humbling and it’s dope.
“Kobe’s a legend, that’s for damn sure.”
We at Hoops Rumors send our condolences to Bryant’s family and friends.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Pacific Notes: Kings, Lakers, Saric, Suns
Appearing in their first game as members of the Kings on Wednesday, Kent Bazemore and Anthony Tolliver were part of the team’s sixth consecutive loss and 15th in the last 18 games. While Sacramento’s playoff chances appear to be slipping away, the two newcomers remain optimistic that they can help turn things around.
“Me and Kent both feel exactly the same way — it’s not unfixable,” Tolliver said this week upon joining the Kings, according to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. “It’s not something where we feel, ‘Aw, crap, we’re just gonna have to ride it out.’ We really feel we have an opportunity to do something with the guys we have.”
The Kings are now 5.5 games back of the No. 8 seed in the West, but Bazemore isn’t convinced that deficit is insurmountable, as Anderson relays: “You win two or three games in a row, you finish strong going into the (All-Star) break and you have plenty of time to make up that slack. This league is about getting hot at the right time.”
Despite the disappointing stretch, the Kings have no changes planned for their coaching staff or management group, according to James Ham of NBC Sports California, who tweets that the club will need to work things out with the current group in place.
Let’s round up a few more items from around the Pacific…
- Asked by ESPN’s Dave McMenamin (Twitter link) if the Lakers need one more piece to cement their place as a championship contender, LeBron James declined to lobby for an upgrade. “We have enough right now,” he replied.
- As a result of starting 41 games this season for the Suns, Dario Saric has met the starter criteria and will be eligible a slightly higher qualifying offer if the team makes him a restricted free agent this summer, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks. A former 12th overall pick, Saric would have been in line for a $4.79MM QO, but it’ll now be worth $5.09MM, the equivalent of a QO for the ninth overall pick.
- Suns head coach Monty Williams and star Devin Booker expressed enthusiasm about NFL receiver Larry Fitzgerald joining the club’s ownership group, as Brendon Kleen of Forbes.com writes. “The level of credibility of our franchise continues to go up,” Williams said. “When someone like Larry partners and pours his money into it, it says a lot about who we are and who we’re trying to be.”
Lauri Markkanen Out 4-6 Weeks With Pelvic Injury
The Bulls‘ disappointing season has taken another unfortunate turn, as the team announced today in a press release that starting power forward Lauri Markkanen will be sidelined for the next four-to-six weeks. According to the team, an MRI on Markkanen’s hip revealed an early stress reaction of his right pelvis.
The seventh overall pick in the 2017 draft, Markkanen had a strong rookie season, but didn’t take a major step forward in his second season and has leveled off in his third year. His 15.0 PPG, 6.5 RPG, .424 FG%, and .344 3PT% in 46 games in 2019/20 are all career lows.
This is also the third consecutive season that Markkanen has battled health problems. He was limited to 68 games in his first year, then missed 30 total games at the start and end of last season due to an elbow injury and a heart issue.
The 22-year-old will become extension-eligible for the first time this offseason, so even if Chicago falls out of the playoff race, he’ll want to return sometime after the All-Star break and finish the season strong. Currently, the 17-29 Bulls are 2.5 games back of the eighth-seeded Nets.
With Markkanen, starting center Wendell Carter, and rookie big man Daniel Gafford all on the shelf, the Bulls’ frontcourt depth will be tested. The team figures to lean heavily on Luke Kornet, Thaddeus Young, and Cristiano Felicio for the time being.
Community Shootaround: Mock All-Star Draft
The NBA announced its 10 All-Star starters on Thursday night, with Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James headlining the group.
While five starters were selected from each conference, the East and West won’t square off in the All-Star game, as the NBA will once again conduct an All-Star draft. Top vote-getters Giannis and LeBron will serve as team captains for a second consecutive year and will essentially participate in two separate drafts, selecting from the eight-player starter poll before moving onto the 14-player pool of reserves.
We don’t know yet which reserves will round out the All-Star rosters, but now that the starters have been announced, we can speculate about how the first part of the All-Star draft might play out.
Here’s the eight-player starter pool that Antetokounmpo and James will be selecting from:
- Luka Doncic, G (Mavericks)
- James Harden, G (Rockets)
- Kemba Walker, G (Celtics)
- Trae Young, G (Hawks)
- Anthony Davis, F/C (Lakers)
- Kawhi Leonard, F/C (Clippers)
- Joel Embiid, F/C (Sixers)
- Pascal Siakam, F/C (Raptors)
Our discussion question today is a two-parter: We want to know what you think the draft should look like if Giannis and LeBron are each trying to build the best lineups possible, and what it actually will look like after various allegiances are taken into effect.
For instance, it’s probably a safe bet to assume that LeBron – who was the leading overall vote-getter and figures to get the No. 1 pick – won’t pass on his teammate Davis. After all, a year ago, LeBron faced half-joking accusations of tampering when he selected the then-Pelican with his first pick in the reserve round.
Veteran basketball writer Tom Ziller tried his hand at predicting how the All-Star draft will actually play out, starting with James selecting his fellow Lakers star. But it might be more fun to imagine what the draft would look like if Giannis and LeBron were both solely focused on winning the game and building the best roster possible. Would Davis still be LeBron’s first pick or would he lean toward someone like Leonard? Would Harden be picked a whole lot higher than he was a year ago?
Head to the comment section below to share your thoughts on what the 2020 All-Star starter draft will – or should – look like!