Central Notes: Love, Griffin, Wood, Oladipo, Bulls
In a Q&A with Jason Lloyd of The Athletic, Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love acknowledged that it will probably take a while for the club to become a legit title contender again. However, he was evasive when asked if he could envision himself asking management for a trade.
“What’s going to happen with us this summer? Or at the trade deadline? I just don’t know,” Love said. “It’s just tough because, and I’m not a religious guy by any means, but the old saying ‘You want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans.’ Listen, obviously it’s a tough go right now. We’ve got (seven) wins. But in some ways, the grass isn’t always greener. You just don’t know how the s–t is going to shake out. Ever. In anything.
“So could I see it? Yes and no. It’s tough for me to answer. If we got a year or two down the line — I don’t know what their plans are for me even in the short term. But if it got there and we weren’t getting any better, it might make sense for them to completely go young. Maybe it’s that way now.”
Reports this month have indicated that Love may want to be dealt, with Portland said to be among his preferred landing spots. However, moving him won’t be easy, given his pricey long-term contract.
Here’s more from around the Central:
- With Blake Griffin continuing to battle knee soreness, the Pistons face a dilemma, according to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic, who explores how the team will balance its desire to rest Griffin with its push for a playoff spot. Griffin is listed as doubtful for Friday’s game, the first of a back-to-back set.
- The Pistons will also be missing another big man on Friday, as the club announced today (via Twitter) that Christian Wood has sustained a left knee bone bruise and will be sidelined for at least one week.
- Victor Oladipo spoke to Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype about his rehab process, the Pacers‘ offseason addition of Malcolm Brogdon, and the team’s ceiling, among other topics.
- The Bulls‘ rebuild is headed down the wrong path, in the view of Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.
Mavs Not Expected To Pursue Andre Iguodala
While the Mavericks appear to have the pieces necessary to make an attractive trade offer for Andre Iguodala, Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News (Twitter link) has been told that Dallas has “zero interest” in the veteran forward.
Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter links) reiterates that point, citing league sources who say that the Mavericks like Iguodala and had interest in him during the offseason, but aren’t actively pursuing a trade for the 35-year-old and don’t intend to.
As Townsend explains, Dallas’ management group “loves” the club’s current chemistry. Although Iguodala wouldn’t necessarily negatively impact that chemistry, adding a veteran like him would to disrupt the current rotation, Townsend notes. Stein, meanwhile, suggests that the Mavs are being “measured” as they consider possible trade targets, even after emerging as potential contenders.
The Grizzlies have held onto Iguodala since acquiring from Golden State in July, despite the fact that he hasn’t played a single minute for the team this season. Memphis reportedly hasn’t budged from its asking price of a first-round pick, while contenders like the Lakers, Clippers, and Rockets continue to hold out hope that Iguodala will be bought out, per Stein (Twitter link).
Houston and the L.A. clubs aren’t particularly well positioned to acquire Iguodala in a trade, but Dallas might be. A package of Courtney Lee‘s expiring contract and the Warriors’ 2020 second-round pick would likely appeal to the Grizzlies.
It’s possible Dallas is projecting a lack of interest in Iguodala to gain leverage and lower Memphis’ asking price, but for now it seems safe to assume that the Mavs aren’t the favorites for the former Finals MVP.
NBA Trade Candidate Watch: Northwest Division
Over the course of the 2019/20 NBA season, up until February’s trade deadline, we’re keeping an eye on potential trade candidates from around the NBA, monitoring their value and exploring the likelihood that they’ll be moved. Each of these looks at possible trade candidates focuses on a specific division, as we zero in on three players from that division.
The Northwest Division is primed for a potentially eventful 2020 trade deadline. The Thunder have veterans to shop. The Timberwolves want a point guard. The Nuggets have the pieces to put together a package for an impact player. And the Jazz and Trail Blazers may be looking to shake things up after up-and-down starts.
As we wait to see what these teams have in mind, let’s take a closer look at three more potential trade candidates from around the Northwest:
Malik Beasley, SG
Denver Nuggets
$2.7MM cap hit; RFA in 2020
Beasley enjoyed a breakout season in 2018/19, boosting his scoring average from 3.2 PPG to 11.3 PPG and posting an impressive .474/.402/.848 shooting line as a key member of the Nuggets’ rotation. After failing to come to terms on an extension with the club this fall, he has struggled out of the gate in 2019/20 and is no longer receiving consistent minutes on a deep Denver squad.
For teams in need of outside shooting help, Beasley – who is still making 41.1% of his outside attempts this season – may look like a tantalizing buy-low target. He’ll be a restricted free agent next summer, so any team that wants to keep him beyond this season should have no problem doing so, assuming he doesn’t receive an exorbitant offer sheet next July.
The Nuggets are in a position where it might make sense to consolidate their depth in a trade package if the right impact player is available. Such a deal, which could also open up some additional playing time for promising young forward Michael Porter Jr., may very well involve Beasley.
Danilo Gallinari, F
Oklahoma City Thunder
$22.6MM cap hit; UFA in 2020
Gallinari is one of the NBA’s most obvious trade candidates this winter, and the only reason he wasn’t included in our initial look at the Northwest last month is because the Thunder have an even more obvious trade candidate in Chris Paul.
Moving Gallinari appears more realistic than dealing CP3, since Gallinari’s cap hit isn’t quite as exorbitant and his contract is expiring. The challenge for Oklahoma City will be finding a trade partner in need of a scoring forward that has the contract(s) necessary to salary-match and a first-round pick – or a promising young prospect – to spare.
Portland, with Kent Bazemore‘s and Hassan Whiteside‘s expiring contracts, initially looked like an ideal fit, but the Trail Blazers have been talking as if they’re looking ahead to future seasons rather than just focusing on this one, so Gallinari might not be near the top of their wish list. If that’s the case, we’ll see if OKC can find another team in position to make a deal work.
Dante Exum, G
Utah Jazz
$9.6MM cap hit; $9.6MM guaranteed salary in 2020/21; UFA in 2021
The Jazz have showed remarkable patience with Exum since selecting him fifth overall in the 2014 draft, but the Australian guard doesn’t really seem any closer to being an impact player than he was five years ago. Utah hasn’t given up on him yet, but at this point a change of scenery might be the best thing for the 24-year-old, especially if another team still believes in his upside.
Because his contract has another guaranteed year beyond 2019/20, Exum probably doesn’t have positive trade value, but he’d make a good salary-matching piece if the Jazz try to make a roster upgrade — the only other mid-level type contract on the team’s books belongs to Joe Ingles, who can’t and won’t be traded this season.
I’d expect Exum to finish the season in Utah, but he’s worth keeping an eye on because of his cap hit.
Revisit the rest of our 2019/20 Trade Candidate series right here.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Stanton Kidd Signs With Australian Team
Former Jazz forward Stanton Kidd has signed with Melbourne United, the team announced on Friday (Twitter link). The club is part of Australia’s National Basketball League.
Kidd, who finished his college career at Colorado State in 2015, has mostly played international ball since then, spending time with teams in Belgium, Germany, and Turkey. The 27-year-old made his NBA debut this fall after signing a partially guaranteed contract with the Jazz in the offseason, appearing in a total of 15 minutes across four games for Utah.
When Utah signed Juwan Morgan last month, Kidd was the odd man out and was placed on waivers to open up a roster spot. He had been a free agent since then, but is now on track to finish the 2019/20 season in Melbourne.
Raptors Notes: Siakam, Gasol, Powell, VanVleet
The Raptors, who have already been without Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, and a handful of role players for stretches this season, will now put their roster depth to its biggest test yet. The team announced on Thursday that Pascal Siakam (groin), Marc Gasol (hamstring), and Norman Powell (shoulder) will all be sidelined indefinitely.
Siakam has been Toronto’s leading scorer and a borderline MVP candidate so far this season, while Gasol has been the team’s most valuable player on the defensive end. The loss of Powell shouldn’t be understated either — the 26-year-old swingman had been enjoying perhaps the best stretch of his career, averaging 16.8 PPG on .515/.423/.828 shooting in his last 20 games (30.8 MPG).
Here’s more on the Raptors as they look to fill the holes created by their latest series of injuries:
- While the Raptors didn’t offer a definitive recovery timeline for any of their three newly-injured players, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Gasol is likely to miss a “period of weeks.” Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter links) suggests that Siakam’s injury will likely be the most short-term of the three, while Powell’s injury figures to keep him out the longest. Siakam’s groin issue is believed to be a mild strain that the club is handling with caution, Grange notes.
- As both Grange and Eric Koreen of The Athletic point out, Powell’s shoulder subluxation sounds similar to an injury he suffered last season, which cost him six weeks. Koreen believes it will be a “best-case scenario” for Toronto if Gasol and Powell each only miss a few weeks.
- Getting Fred VanVleet, Matt Thomas, and Stanley Johnson back soon would help the Raptors address their depth concerns, Blake Murphy of The Athletic notes in an in-depth look on the fallout of the team’s injury woes. There’s hope that VanVleet may be able to return as early as Friday, but Grange says Thomas will likely be out for another week or so.
- Koreen, Murphy, and Grange all wonder if the Raptors might consider adding someone to their roster. The 15-man squad is currently full though, so in order to make room for someone new, Toronto would have to trade or waive a back-of-the-roster player — or qualify for a hardship exception, which appears unlikely for now.
DeMarre Carroll: Reduced Role Has Been “Difficult”
After signing a three-year contract worth nearly $21MM with the Spurs this past offseason, DeMarre Carroll expected to play a regular role for the team, but that hasn’t been the case so far.
Carroll, who averaged 27.7 MPG in 140 games for Brooklyn over the past two seasons, has played just 10.9 minutes per contest in 2019/20 and hasn’t appeared at all in more than half of the Spurs’ games. As Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express-News writes, the veteran forward has been caught off guard by the string of DNP-CDs.
“I did not have this in mind,” Carroll said. “Every time I play a different team, they always ask what it’s like to play here. I literally have no clue. I have no answer. All I can do is just stay ready.
“… It’s very difficult, this right here,” Carroll added. “Establishing myself as a player in this league, then re-establishing myself. It’s definitely been difficult. It’s just been another bump in the road. I have to keep fighting.”
Carroll, who hasn’t seen any action since December 3, was one of the Spurs’ top targets in the summer — word of an agreement between the two sides broke within 90 minutes of the start of free agency. And while San Antonio’s agreement with Marcus Morris is frequently cited as the reason why the team had to trade Davis Bertans, the Spurs essentially chose Carroll over Bertans too — the three-way deal that sent Bertans to Washington brought Carroll to San Antonio via sign-and-trade.
Given how much the Spurs seemed to value Carroll, it’s surprising he hasn’t been used more, but players like Rudy Gay, Marco Belinelli and Lonnie Walker remain ahead of him in the rotation. Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich praised Carroll for how he has handled the situation, as McDonald relays.
“He’s good people,” Popovich said. “At this point, it’s a new program for him and he’s got a couple guys ahead of him at that position. It’s been tough for him to get minutes, but he’s been professional about it and done everything I could ask.”
Despite being disappointed by not having a regular role for the Spurs, Carroll is trying to stay positive rather than griping about his minutes or requesting a trade.
“You don’t know when your opportunity will come,” Carroll said. “Maybe somebody will get hurt, you get traded, it doesn’t matter. You’ve got to be ready. … You try not to have no hard feelings, because it’s going to come back to you. Pop’s the coach; he does what he wants to do. I just got to get ready to play when he asks me to.”
Grizzlies Still Seeking First-Rounder For Iguodala?
The Grizzlies, who have no plans to buy out Andre Iguodala, also haven’t adjusted their asking price on the trade market for the veteran forward, according to Sean Deveney of Heavy.com. Having acquired a first-round pick along with Iguodala in July, the Grizzlies are hoping to secure a second first-round pick when they flip the 35-year-old.
“They haven’t budged,” a league executive told Deveney. “Maybe they will as the date gets closer, but they’ve made clear, they’re not interested in a buyout with Andre and they’re looking for a first-rounder. Teams have been trying. They haven’t let go of that. But that tells you they know they’ll be able to get something and won’t have to buy him out.”
Acquiring a first-round pick for Iguodala’s $17MM expiring contract seems ambitious unless the Grizzlies are willing to take on some unwanted multiyear money, but there’s no harm in trying. The former Finals MVP is currently away from the team, and any potential trade partner with interest would be eyeing him for a potential playoff run, so Memphis can afford to be patient.
While I’d be surprised if the Grizzlies get a first-rounder for Iguodala, it seems as if the club should be able to land a second-rounder or two. The Mavericks, who control one of 2020’s most valuable second-round picks and could match Iguodala’s salary using Courtney Lee‘s expiring contract, still look to me like the best fit, but Deveney identifies the Bucks, Nuggets, and Jazz as a few other possible suitors.
I explained earlier today why several contending teams – including the Lakers – will have a tough time putting together a trade package for a player like Iguodala.
Nets Notes: Harris, Irving, Prospects, Crabbe
Nets forward Joe Harris is among the players eligible for free agency next summer, and he appears certain to receive a raise on his current $7.67MM salary. As Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype relays, ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on a podcast this week that league insiders have speculated Harris will be able to double his current annual salary on his next contract.
Harris has emerged as one of the NBA’s best long-distance shooters in recent years. After making 2.4 threes per game with a league-best .474 3PT% in 2018/19, he’s knocking down 2.8 per game at a 43.6% rate this season. As Lowe notes, Harris isn’t just a one-way player either — he can hold his own on the defensive end.
Because Harris signed a two-year contract with the Nets in 2018, he won’t be eligible to receive an extension from the team before he reaches the open market, so Brooklyn will have to fight off other suitors next summer in order to retain him.
Here’s more from out of Brooklyn:
- Kyrie Irving will miss his 17th consecutive game on Saturday, having not accompanied the Nets on their trip to San Antonio. Malika Andrews of ESPN.com takes an in-depth look at where things stand with Irving’s shoulder injury and whether he’s getting close to a return, as well as what the team’s plan is for Spencer Dinwiddie when Irving is back.
- Net Income of NetsDaily checks in on the progress being made by Brooklyn’s draft-and-stash prospects, including 2016 second-rounder Isaia Cordinier and this year’s No. 56 pick Jaylen Hands. Cordinier is having a strong season in France, while Hands is beginning to make an impact for the Long Island Nets in the G League.
- Allen Crabbe had a disappointing second year with the Nets in 2018/19 that ultimately ended with a trade sending him to Atlanta. Speaking to Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News, Crabbe described the knee injury that limited him to 43 games last season, explaining that he didn’t recover with rest like the team hoped. “It was just two steps going forward and four steps back is what it felt like,” Crabbe said. “It felt like we put a lot of time with the rehab and getting better and it just didn’t want to cooperate.”
James Wiseman Leaves Memphis, Will Prepare For Draft
James Wiseman, a contender to be the No. 1 overall pick next spring, has left the University of Memphis and will begin preparing for the 2020 NBA draft, he announced today on Instagram. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link), Wiseman began informing Memphis coaches in recent days about his decision to leave the school and hire an agent.
“This was not how I expected my freshman season to be, but I’m thankful for everyone who has supported my family and me throughout this process,” Wiseman said in his statement.
Wiseman, who appeared in three early-season games for Memphis, had been serving a 12-game suspension issued by the NCAA as a result of recruiting violations. Had he remained with the Tigers, he would have been eligible to return to action on January 12 vs. South Florida. Instead, his college career is already over.
In those three games as a Tiger, Wiseman was dominant, averaging 19.7 PPG, 10.7 RPG, and 3.0 BPG with a .769 FG% in just 23.0 minutes per contest. He currently ranks as the No. 3 player on ESPN’s big board, with Jonathan Givony praising his athleticism and soft touch around the rim, along with his ability to protect the rim and make switches on defense.
Wiseman’s decision represents the latest wrench thrown into the plans of NBA evaluators and scouts who were hoping to get an extended look at 2020’s top prospects this winter. Projected top-10 picks LaMelo Ball (foot), R.J. Hampton (hip), and Cole Anthony (knee) are all currently sidelined with injuries.
Warriors Notes: Looney, Smailagic, Paschall
It was viewed as a coup for the Warriors when they were able to re-sign Kevon Looney to a three-year, $15MM contract this past summer, but the big man hasn’t been himself yet this season and received a DNP-CD on Wednesday night.
Looney, who spent much of the offseason recovering from the effects of a collarbone injury suffered in the NBA Finals, has also dealt with a neuropathic condition. His health issues have limited him to just eight games so far this season, and Kerr cited those problems when he explained his decision not to play the 23-year-old on Wednesday, as Anthony Slater of The Athletic details.
“It’s hard to play 12 guys,” Kerr said. “And Looney is struggling to get his game back right now. … We’ve tried to help him play back into condition, but it’s not really fair to him or the team until he’s really in a better place physically.”
Kerr said that the Warriors still view Looney as “one of our foundational players” and that he’s counting on the young center to eventually get healthy and get his conditioning back up to speed. According to Kerr, this season is more about developing young prospects and evaluating players whose place in the club’s long-term future may not be assured, which is why he’s comfortable being patient with Looney.
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- Despite Kerr’s insistence that he’s not concerned about Looney, Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area believes it may be time to sound the alarm, since there’s no guarantee the effects of neuropathy won’t continue to limit the big man.
- Warriors rookie Alen Smailagic will “100 percent” make his NBA debut at some point this season, Kerr told reporters on Wednesday, per Drew Shiller of NBC Sports Bay Area. However, it remains to be seen when that will happen, since the club wants Smailagic to continue playing big minutes for the Santa Cruz Warriors in the G League rather than seeing sporadic playing time at the NBA level.
- While getting Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson back will be the key to the Warriors’ bounce-back hopes in 2020/21, continued improvements from Eric Paschall will also be an important factor if the club wants to return to contending status, Anthony Slater of The Athletic writes in an in-depth look at the rookie forward.