NBA G League Expanding To Mexico City
The NBA G League will have a franchise based in Mexico City beginning in 2020/21, the league announced on Thursday night in a press release. According to the NBA’s announcement, the professional team Capitanes, which is currently part of Mexico’s Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (LNBP), will join the G League next season, making it the 29th NBAGL franchise.
“Bringing an NBA G League team to Mexico City is a historic milestone for the NBA which demonstrates our commitment to basketball fans in Mexico and across Latin America,” commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “As the first G League franchise based outside of the U.S. and Canada, we look forward to welcoming Capitanes to the NBA family.”
An expansion G League franchise can take some time to establish. For instance, the Pelicans‘ new NBAGL team, announced in October 2018, won’t relocate to Birmingham, Alabama until 2022/23 and is playing in Erie in the interim. By bringing aboard a franchise like Capitanes that has an existing infrastructure – including a home arena and an ownership group – the NBA will be able to expedite the process, allowing the team to make the transition to the G League next fall.
Capitanes will continue to play its home games at Gimnasio Juan de la Barrera, an arena that holds about 5,000 fans, and will spend at least the next five years in the G League. Unlike the G League’s other 28 teams, Capitanes won’t be affiliated with a specific NBA franchise, per Eric Gomez of ESPN. It’s unclear if it will still be an option for players on assignment from the Trail Blazers or Nuggets, the two NBA teams without NBAGL affiliates.
“The assumption is Portland and Denver will be adding teams over time,” Silver said on Thursday.
The news of the G League expanding to Mexico City comes almost exactly a year after Silver indicated that he was optimistic about establishing an NBAGL team in Mexico. At the time, the NBA commissioner said he was confident that the league would be “planting its flag in Mexico” soon.
NBA Trade Candidate Watch: Central 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.
We’re just three days away from December 15, the date when more than 120 players who signed new contracts this past offseason will become trade-eligible. Generally, NBA teams don’t suddenly complete a flurry of trades when the calendar turns to December 15, but it at least provides some hope that one of the leagues’ longest ever trade droughts could come to an end soon.
After initially identifying three trade candidates from the Central last month, we’re circling back to the division today to examine three more. Let’s dive in…
Kevin Love, PF
Cleveland Cavaliers
$28.9MM cap hit; $91.5MM in additional guaranteed salaries through 2022/23
As Jason Lloyd of The Athletic wrote this morning, Love has been the subject of trade rumors for years, but it feels a little different this time.
It seems likely that Love is one of the players who hasn’t been particularly fond of John Beilein‘s coaching style. After all, it was just two months ago that the Cavaliers’ power forward was talking about how much he wanted to remain in Cleveland. With the Cavs off to a 5-19 start, the latest reports are suggesting that Love would rather be traded to a contender.
There will be plenty of roadblocks in the way of a potential deal. Matching Love’s cap hit of nearly $29MM will be a challenge for many teams. Even clubs that have the salaries necessary to acquire Love may not agree with the Cavs about his value — Lloyd suggested today that Cleveland wants a first-round pick in return, but that may only be realistic if the club is willing to take back some bad money.
Ersan Ilyasova, PF
Milwaukee Bucks
$7MM cap hit; $7MM non-guaranteed salary for 2020/21
The Bucks have opened the season by winning 22 of their first 25 games, including 16 in a row through Wednesday. If the team continues playing at this level, you could make a strong case that the best approach at the trade deadline would be standing pat.
If Milwaukee does look to upgrade its supporting cast though, Ilyasova looks like the most logical candidate to be moved in such a deal. His $7MM cap hit makes him a good salary-matching chip for mid-level contracts, and his non-guaranteed salary for next season would appeal to teams looking to create flexibility.
The 32-year-old also isn’t such a crucial piece of the rotation that the Bucks would balk at giving him up. He’s not a particularly strong defender or play-maker, so his value comes from his ability to stretch the floor, but he has only made 33.3% of his three-point attempts, his lowest mark since 2013/14, and his 16.3 minutes per game are the fewest he has averaged since 2006/07.
It’s hard to come up with an ideal trade scenario for the Bucks, so Ilyasova is probably more likely to stay put than to change teams within the next couple months. But it won’t be a surprise if he’s dangled in a few trade discussions before February 6.
Reggie Jackson, PG
Detroit Pistons
$18.1MM cap hit; UFA in 2020
If the Pistons fall out of playoff contention in the Eastern Conference, some bigger names could become trade candidates. In that scenario, potential deals involving Andre Drummond and Blake Griffin shouldn’t be entirely ruled out.
But considering the 11-13 Magic currently hold the No. 8 spot in the East, falling out of the playoff race is unlikely unless the Pistons totally bottom out. As such, Jackson is the more logical trade candidate than the team’s two stars, since his expiring $18MM+ salary could be used to build a package for another impact player.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem as if there will be many impact players available that will fit the Pistons’ roster. But exploring a trade for a player like D’Angelo Russell using Jackson’s contract as the primary salary-matching piece might make sense if Detroit – which has all its future first-round picks available – remains in win-now mode.
Revisit the rest of our 2019/20 Trade Candidate series right here.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Bulls’ Thaddeus Young Dissatisfied With Role?
Even after playing a season-high 33 minutes on Wednesday, Bulls forward Thaddeus Young is averaging just 21.6 minutes per contest so far this season, his lowest mark since he was a rookie in 2007/08. According to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times and K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago, Young thought he’d be playing more in Chicago and has shared his desire for increased minutes with people in the organization.
Cowley suggests that it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Young’s camp asks for a trade once he’s eligible to be dealt on December 15. However, both Cowley and Johnson note that the 31-year-old is a consummate professional and is unlikely to publicly express any unhappiness. In fact, he told Cowley that he’s willing to accept whatever role head coach Jim Boylen envisions.
“I’m good with whatever Coach sees fit to do with me,” Young said. “Obviously everybody wants to be on the court more, everybody wants to be on the floor as much as possible. For me it’s just be productive with the time I am given.”
With Otto Porter on the shelf until at least the new year and Chandler Hutchison battling a shoulder issue, the Bulls have talked about getting Young some minutes at the three, according to Boylen (link via Cowley). However, it’s not a solution the club has explored extensively on the court.
Young, who has started 671 regular season games in his career, is coming off the bench this season, and while he doesn’t seem to have a problem with that, he admits he’d like to be part of more end-of-game lineups, as Cowley relays.
“Of course,” Young said. “I’ve been closing for years. But like I said, if Coach decides to go with a different unit, different guys, then I have to go with that and try and be one of the guys that’s ready to go when my number is called.”
Nets Waive Iman Shumpert
3:13pm: The Nets have officially waived Shumpert, the team announced this afternoon in a press release.
10:54am: The Nets will waive veteran swingman Iman Shumpert, league sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Brooklyn is currently carrying 16 players, but will have to get back down to 15 after this Saturday’s game in Toronto, when Wilson Chandler‘s 25-game suspension ends and he becomes eligible to be reinstated. The Nets, who have posted a 9-4 record since Shumpert entered the lineup, will “reluctantly” release the recently-signed 29-year-old due to their roster crunch, per Charania.
Having signed with the Nets on November 13, Shumpert quickly entered the club’s rotation, averaging 4.2 PPG and 2.6 RPG in 13 games (18.5 MPG). He didn’t shoot well during his time in Brooklyn (.328/.242/.571), but he provided head coach Kenny Atkinson with another reliable perimeter defender.
Once he’s officially placed on waivers, Shumpert will be eligible to be claimed by any of the NBA’s other teams, since he’s on a minimum-salary contract. Assuming he clears waivers, he’ll once again become an unrestricted free agent and the Nets will be on the hook for the prorated portion of his non-guaranteed salary (about $419K if he’s cut today, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks).
Chandler, David Nwaba, Rodions Kurucs, and Theo Pinson were among the other players the Nets could have considered parting with if they’d wanted to retain Shumpert, but they’ll all hang onto their roster spots for now.
And-Ones: E. Okafor, Trade Season, 2020 Draft, Cacok
Former No. 2 overall pick Emeka Okafor made an NBA comeback during the 2017/18 season, appearing in 26 regular season contests for the Pelicans after being out of the league for nearly five years. Although Okafor made 19 starts for a New Orleans team that ultimately made it to the Western Conference Semifinals, the veteran big man hasn’t appeared in the NBA since then.
Still, that doesn’t mean Okafor is giving up on his professional career. As Emiliano Carchia of Sportando relays, the former UConn star has found a new home in South Korea, where he has already appeared in a pair of games for Mobis Phoebus. At age 37, Okafor may not return to the NBA again, but he’s averaging a double-double so far in the KBL, with 11.5 PPG and 10.5 RPG.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider link) shares his comprehensive and invaluable trade guide for 2019/20, while John Hollinger of The Athletic provides five reasons why the ’19/20 trade season may turn out to be a dud.
- Within his article, Hollinger makes a case for why the Warriors may push hard to get out of luxury-tax territory before the end of the season, noting that doing so would allow the team to avoid repeater penalties in 2020/21. It won’t be easy for Golden State to sneak below the tax line, but if the team is willing to discuss a Kevon Looney trade, that could open up one path, Hollinger observes.
- Jeremy Woo of SI.com and Sam Vecenie of The Athletic have published their first big boards for the 2020 NBA draft. Georgia freshman guard Anthony Edwards tops both lists, but they diverge from there, with LaMelo Ball coming in at No. 2 in Woo’s rankings, while Vecenie has UNC’s Cole Anthony at No. 2.
- Devontae Cacok‘s new two-way contract with the Lakers is a two-year agreement, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). Cacok is one of six two-way players who is in the first year of a two-year deal.
Knicks Rumors: Mills, Perry, Olshey, Coaches
Several members of the Knicks organization said this week that they expect president Steve Mills to be replaced at season’s end, or even earlier, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv.
The report is similar to one issued by Frank Isola of The Athletic last week. Isola suggested that Mills will be reassigned within the organization or let go altogether, but Begley hears from sources that the situation remains fluid. If the Knicks can turn things around this season, it may improve the odds that Mills sticks around, particularly since he still has years left on his contract beyond 2019/20, Begley writes.
The future of general manager Scott Perry is thought to be tied to Mills’ future to some degree, but not entirely. If Mills is dismissed during the season, the belief is that Perry would take over as the head of basketball operations on an interim basis, per Begley.
Here’s more on the Knicks:
- The Knicks’ vision for their next head coach is someone who has the “stature and ability” to have success in the New York market, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. Team officials want someone who can lean on prior success and experience, which explains why high-profile executives like Masai Ujiri and Sam Presti have been cited as potential targets.
- Marc Berman of The New York Post examines whether Trail Blazers president of basketball operations Neil Olshey might be another target for the Knicks, noting that the Blazers’ exec has strong New York roots. Olshey is happy in Portland, but a person close to him tells Berman that it may not be his last stop. “He’s got full autonomy here to run things as he sees fit and he’s pretty happy with his salary, I think,” that NBA official said. “He’s never going to be a huge fan of retiring in Portland as a city, so maybe this isn’t his final destination. But he’s not a big media guy even if he’s a big-city guy in some ways.”
- According to Shams Charania, Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, and Tom Thibodeau are among the names on the Knicks’ current head coaching wish list. Ian Begley agrees that Jackson has support within the franchise, adding that Jason Kidd is someone else who has organizational support.
- Carmelo Anthony, who spent seven-and-a-half seasons with the Knicks, is holding out hope that the team will retire his number, writes Steve Popper of Newsday. “I think anybody would want that, if you have the opportunity to get that,” Anthony said. “We’ll see what happens when that time comes. Hopefully, they hang No. 7 up there somewhere. We’ll see what happens.”
Thunder Release Two-Way Player Devon Hall
Rookie shooting guard Devon Hall has been waived by the Thunder, the team announced today in a press release. Hall had been on a two-way contract, so Oklahoma City has now opened a two-way slot alongside Luguentz Dort.
[RELATED: 2019/20 NBA Two-Way Contract Tracker]
The 53rd overall pick in the 2018 draft, Hall was stashed in the G League for a year before signing a two-way deal with the Thunder this past offseason. The 24-year-old appeared in five games for the NBA club, playing limited minutes. In three NBAGL games with the Oklahoma City Blue this season, he averaged 8.3 PPG, 5.0 RPG, and 3.3 APG on .208/.308/1.000 shooting.
The former University of Virginia standout will become an unrestricted free agent if he clears waivers on Saturday, while the Thunder will have until January 15 to fill their open two-way contract spot. The Suns are the only other NBA team that isn’t currently carrying two players on two-way deals.
Jusuf Nurkic Aiming To Return Around All-Star Break
The Trail Blazers haven’t offered many specifics on Jusuf Nurkic‘s return from the broken leg that has sidelined him to start the 2019/20 season, but Shams Charania of The Athletic hears that the big man is targeting a return close to the All-Star break in February. According to Charnia, Nurkic is making “positive strides” in his rehab process.
While the Blazers knew coming into the season that they’d be without Nurkic for much of the year, they’ve been hit hard by injuries since then, with Zach Collins and Rodney Hood also suffering long-term ailments. Collins is expected to be out through the All-Star break with a dislocated left shoulder, while Hood won’t return this season after tearing his left Achilles.
Hassan Whiteside has been the Blazers’ starting center this season with Nurkic – and Collins – on the shelf. While Whiteside has held his own in the middle and provided solid rim protection, he’s not as reliable a two-way threat as Nurkic, who has been one of Portland’s most valuable players in recent years.
Still, even if Nurkic is able to return in February, it remains to be seen where Portland will be in the Western Conference playoff race by then. The Blazers off to a 10-15 start, which is disappointing but places them just a game-and-a-half behind the eighth-seeded Suns. It’s possible the club will upgrade its roster in the coming weeks or months to help solidify its status as a postseason contender, though president of basketball operations Neil Olshey isn’t talking as if he expects to do anything drastic.
Marcus Morris Doesn’t Want To Be Traded
With the Knicks seemingly lottery-bound again, Marcus Morris‘ name has begun to emerge in trade rumors. The veteran forward is on a one-year contract, and the club figures to gauge his value on the market. However, Morris himself doesn’t sound enthusiastic about the idea of being dealt, as Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News details.
“I love being in New York,” Morris said. “Win, lose or draw, I’m here to try to help turn this thing around. You know, I’m not really looking to get traded. That’s just my personal opinion. That’s my approach. But this is the NBA.”
Morris acknowledged that he’s “aware” of the possibility he could be traded. Of the Knicks’ veterans, he’s probably the most valuable, especially given how he has played so far this season, with a team-high 19.0 PPG and .489 3PT% through 23 games. He has also been a locker room leader in New York, and while his individual production hasn’t translated into team success so far, he’d like more of an opportunity to change that.
“I’d rather help turn this thing around,” Morris said. “‘Melo (Carmelo Anthony) said it best. Some guys are not built for New York. I’m built for New York. I’d rather be here and I’d rather help and I’d rather anchor it.”
Morris, who becomes eligible to be traded this Sunday, reneged on a free agent agreement with the Spurs this past summer to join the Knicks. According to Marc Berman of The New York Post, sources believe Morris’ desire to be close to his North Philly roots played a part in that decision, so it makes some sense that he’d want to remain in New York, even with the team struggling.
Still, it’s not as if Morris has any sort of no-trade clause that would stop the Knicks from shopping or moving him. One executive who spoke to Bondy predicted the club could net a protected first-round pick or two second-rounders for Morris, and Ian Begley of SNY.tv heard from three teams that believe a first-rounder is a realistic ask for Morris.
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Multiple Teams Doing Homework On Rodions Kurucs
At least two teams are devoting resources to conducting a “full background check” on Nets forward Rodions Kurucs to see if he makes sense as a trade target, sources tell ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Insider link).
Kurucs had a promising rookie season in 2018/19, averaging 8.5 PPG and 3.9 RPG in 63 games (46 starts) and shooting 45.0% from the field. This season, the 21-year-old hasn’t been a regular part of Brooklyn’s rotation, recording just 2.3 PPG and 2.2 RPG on 39.1% shooting in 10 contests (9.9 MPG).
Additionally, Kurucs was arrested during the offseason on a domestic violence charge. The case related to those allegations is ongoing, and the background checks referred to by Marks will presumably focus on determining how credible that accusation is.
The Nets will face a roster crunch within the next few days when Wilson Chandler‘s 25-game suspension comes to an end. The team has been carrying Iman Shumpert as a 16th man, but will have to get back to down to 15 players when Chandler is eligible to be reinstated.
If Brooklyn isn’t prepared to waive a player like Shumpert, Chandler, or David Nwaba, a move involving Kurucs could be a possibility.