Knicks, Nets, Heat Are Donovan Mitchell’s Preferred Destinations If He’s Traded
Donovan Mitchell hasn’t asked the Jazz to trade him, but if he were to be dealt, he would prefer to end up with the Knicks, Nets, or Heat, sources tell Tony Jones of The Athletic.
The Knicks, of course, are viewed as Mitchell’s top suitor, and while Brooklyn and Miami have also been mentioned as possible landing spots, those teams aren’t as well positioned to swing a trade for the All-Star guard. The Nets can’t trade for Mitchell as long as Ben Simmons remains on the roster due to the designated rookie extension rule, while the Heat “simply don’t have the assets that the Jazz are looking for,” according to Jones.
The Jazz are said to be seeking a significant haul of first-round picks in any Mitchell deal, which is why the Knicks are viewed as a frontrunner. New York has acquired four protected first-rounders from other teams and also has all of its own picks available.
The Heat, on the other hand, don’t have any extra first-rounders and have traded their own 2025 pick to Oklahoma City. Given the restrictions imposed by the Stepien rule, Miami could only offer three first-round picks in a package for Mitchell, while New York could trade up to eight.
Although the Knicks have long been linked to Mitchell and have had ongoing trade discussions with the Jazz, the two teams aren’t close to a deal, says Jones.
Utah has also spoken to other suitors and has multiple offers on the table that the front office feels are worth exploring if talks with the Knicks don’t work out, sources tell The Athletic. The Hornets, Wizards, and Cavaliers are among the other teams that have been reported by multiple outlets as possible suitors for Mitchell.
If the Jazz don’t get an offer they like from the Knicks or one of those other potential trade partners, they’re comfortable entering the season with Mitchell on their roster. According to Jones, the club believes it’s in a good position to retool the roster around Mitchell and is more inclined to take that route than to accept “90 cents on the dollar” for the three-time All-Star.
Celtics Sign Bruno Caboclo To Camp Deal
AUGUST 24: The Celtics have officially signed Caboclo, according to RealGM’s transactions log.
AUGUST 1: Free agent forward Bruno Caboclo has reached an agreement on a training camp deal with the Celtics and will get the opportunity to compete for a roster spot this fall, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The 20th overall pick in the 2014 draft, Caboclo appeared in a total of 105 NBA regular season games across seven seasons with the Raptors, Kings, Grizzlies, and Rockets. While the Brazilian forward had tantalizing physical tools, he never put them together at the NBA level, averaging 4.2 PPG and 2.6 RPG on .403/.308/.836 shooting in 12.3 minutes per contest.
Caboclo finished the 2020/21 season in France, then returned to his home country for the ’21/22 campaign, signing with Sao Paolo FC. Caboclo, who is still just 26 years old, led the club to a BCL Americas title and earned MVP honors in the Novo Basquete Brasil, which is Brazil’s top basketball league.
Caboclo worked out for the Jazz in June and played for Utah’s Summer League teams in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas in July, but will be heading to camp with the Celtics, who still have at least a couple regular season roster spots up for grabs. Boston is currently carrying just 12 players on standard contracts, plus a pair on two-way deals.
Nets Notes: Durant, Collins, Outlook, Nash
A number of rival NBA executives subscribe to the theory that the Rudy Gobert trade made it more difficult for the Nets to move Kevin Durant, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. As Scotto explains, there was a sense that if the Nets couldn’t get more in exchange for Durant than the Jazz got for Gobert, Brooklyn’s front office would’ve looked “foolish.”
[RELATED: Kevin Durant, Nets Agree To “Move Forward” With Partnership]
Within his story on the Nets and Durant, Scotto also reports that multiple members of Brooklyn’s front office are fans of Hawks big man John Collins. A report earlier this week stated that Atlanta offered Collins, De’Andre Hunter, and a draft pick in exchange for Durant. However, Collins wasn’t viewed as the sort of star who could headline a KD package, Scotto says.
Here’s more on the Nets in the wake of this week’s Durant-related developments:
- Multiple general managers who spoke to Scotto predicted that the Nets will be a top-four team in the East this season, though one acknowledged that there’s a wide range of conceivable outcomes for the club. “There’s a very predictable unpredictability, a predictable chaos, a predictable waffling,” the GM said. “What really would surprise you at this point?”
- While Brooklyn’s high asking price was one major reason why Durant is still a Net, one league executive who spoke to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today suggested that suitors may have been turned off by the aggressive way the star forward pushed for a trade. “Teams don’t want to overpay for someone who has proven he will burn your house down,” the exec said.
- During a segment on ESPN’s Get Up (video link), Brian Windhorst referred to the truce between Durant and the Nets as a “tentative” one, while Adrian Wojnarowksi said that things will “continue to be fragile” in Brooklyn going forward. Sam Amick of The Athletic agrees that it would be naive to consider the Durant saga over, given that “this kind of discontent doesn’t just disappear overnight.”
- Brian Lewis of The New York Post and Alex Schiffer of The Athletic each list five questions facing the Nets now that they’ve decided to hang onto Durant.
- Within his story at The Athletic, Schiffer says that a possible new look in 2022/23 from head coach Steve Nash – who has several new assistants on his staff – has been a “selling point” in Brooklyn during free agency. Schiffer suggests that the Nets have the personnel necessary to run a faster-paced offense this season after leaning on an isolation-heavy system during Nash’s first couple years in Brooklyn.
Western Notes: Wieskamp, Lakers, Jazz, Wolves, Rockets
Joe Wieskamp‘s new two-year deal with the Spurs, which was officially announced today, includes a guaranteed $2,175,000 salary for 2022/23 and a non-guaranteed $2,200,000 salary for ’23/24, Hoops Rumors has learned. The team completed the signing using cap room in order to give Wieskamp a greater raise than his Non-Bird rights allowed.
If Wieskamp remains on the contract through the 2022/23 league year, he’ll be in line to receive a partial guarantee of $500K for year two on August 1, 2023. His full second-year salary would become guaranteed at the start of the 2023/24 season.
Here are a few more items from around the Western Conference:
- Appearing on the Pat McAfee Show (video link), Shams Charania of The Athletic said that Jazz guard Patrick Beverley and forward Bojan Bogdanovic are two potential trade targets worth keeping an eye on for the Lakers. With a Kyrie Irving trade looking less likely than ever, the Lakers will likely focus on scenarios where they could potentially move Russell Westbrook and draft compensation for two or three solid rotation players, Charania notes.
- The Timberwolves have officially confirmed that Jon Wallace is their new director of player personnel and GM of the Iowa Wolves, announcing the hiring today in a press release. The Timberwolves’ deal with Wallace, who worked with Tim Connelly in Denver, was first reported earlier this month. “I have spent many years with Jon and know his basketball acumen is going to benefit the Timberwolves organization as a whole,” Connelly said in a statement.
- The Nets’ truce with Kevin Durant isn’t great news for the Rockets, who own several Brooklyn first-round picks and swaps in the coming years, writes Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle. While the Nets’ long-term future remains far from certain, the value of those picks in the short term will probably be limited as long as Durant and other stars are still on the roster, Feigen observes.
Thunder Fear Chet Holmgren Has Torn Ligaments In Foot
No. 2 overall pick Chet Holmgren is undergoing further evaluation on his injured foot, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links), who says the Thunder fear Holmgren has suffered ligament damage.
As Charania explains, exams on Holmgren’s foot have shown potential torn ligaments, and the big man is getting additional opinions to determine the severity of the injury and to set a recovery timetable.
Holmgren’s injury occurred during a pro-am game in Seattle on Saturday — he left the contest after rolling his ankle. Reports at the time indicated the injury didn’t appear serious, but it sounds like there’s cause for real concern now that the young center has undergone more tests. That pro-am game had to be stopped early due to slippery court conditions that were deemed unsafe.
Holmgren, 20, was drafted behind only Paolo Banchero this June after averaging 14.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 3.7 blocks per game in 32 appearances (26.9 MPG) for Gonzaga during his first and only college season.
Holmgren’s ability to protect the rim and knock down three-pointers (.390 3PT%), along with his rare blend of length and athleticism, made him perhaps the most tantalizing prospect of the 2022 draft class, but his slender build raised questions about his ability to stay healthy going forward.
The Thunder aren’t expected to be a playoff team in 2022/23, but view Holmgren as one of the foundational pieces of their franchise in the long term, alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey. We’ll provide more info on his foot injury once we know more.
Nets Eyeing Markieff Morris, Tristan Thompson
With the Kevin Durant saga resolved at least for the time being, the Nets can shift their focus to filling out their projected regular season roster, which currently has a couple openings. According to reports from Chris Milholen of NetsDaily (Twitter link) and Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, the Nets may use one of those spots to bolster their frontcourt with a free agent addition.
Milholen reports that there’s mutual interest between Markieff Morris and the Nets, with Scotto confirming that the team has expressed “exploratory” interest in the veteran forward.
Morris was limited to just 17 appearances last season in Miami due to a neck injury that sidelined him for much of the year, but he has a solid NBA résumé, having appeared in over 700 regular season games for six teams since entering the league in 2011. In his last full season, Morris averaged 6.7 PPG and 4.4 RPG in 61 games (19.7 MPG) for the Lakers in 2020/21. He’s known for his toughness and defensive versatility, and can also stretch the floor a little on offense (.341 career 3PT%).
Veteran center Tristan Thompson is another potential Nets target to watch, according to Scotto, who says the club would like to add a backup center after losing Andre Drummond in free agency.
Thompson, 31, played for three teams in 2021/22, starting the season with the Kings before being traded to the Pacers, who bought him out, clearing a path for him to sign with the Bulls. In total, Thompson averaged 6.0 PPG and 5.1 RPG in 57 games (15.7 MPG).
While there are a number of other intriguing frontcourt players on the free agent market, Scotto threw cold water on the idea that Brooklyn could sign Dwight Howard or Carmelo Anthony, reporting that the club doesn’t currently have interest in either player.
The Nets are carrying 12 players on fully guaranteed standard contracts. Edmond Sumner, who has a partial guarantee of $250K on his minimum-salary deal, has the inside track to be the 13th man. Even if we assume Sumner will make the regular season roster, that still leaves one or two open slots.
Brooklyn has its full taxpayer mid-level exception ($6.48MM) available, though it’s unclear if any of the players on the team’s radar will command more than the minimum.
Teams Have One More Week To Stretch 2022/23 Salaries
Wednesday, August 31 is the last day that an NBA team will be able to waive a player who has a guaranteed salary for 2022/23 and stretch that player’s ’22/23 salary across three seasons.
[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: Stretch Provision]
A player who is waived between September 1 and the end of the 2022/23 season can still have his cap hit(s) for 2023/24 and future years stretched across multiple years, assuming he’s owed guaranteed money beyond this season. But his ’22/23 cap charge would remain unchanged in that scenario, unless he reaches a buyout agreement with his team.
The stretch provision allows teams to gain some short-term relief at the cost of reduced long-term flexibility. It’s used most frequently by teams in the luxury tax that want to either lower their tax bill (or duck out of tax territory entirely) or by teams that want to create a little extra cap room to accommodate a specific roster move.
Teams haven’t employed the stretch provision very frequently over the last couple years, but we saw it utilized in a couple instances last month. The Pacers waived three players with modest 2022/23 salary guarantees and stretched their cap hits across three seasons in order to help make room for their offer sheet to Deandre Ayton.
In that case, Nik Stauskas had his $2,106,932 partial guarantee turned into annual cap hits of $702,311 through 2024/25; Juwan Morgan‘s $1,728,689 partial guarantee was stretched to become three annual cap hits of $576,230; and Malik Fitts‘ $1,665,650 partial guarantee turned into three annual cap hits of $555,217.
The Trail Blazers, meanwhile, stretched Eric Bledsoe‘s $3.9MM partial guarantee across three seasons for equal cap hits of $1.3MM through 2024/25, which allowed Portland to narrowly sneak below this season’s luxury tax line.
Conversely, when the Spurs waived Danilo Gallinari, they simply applied his $13MM partial guarantee to their 2022/23 cap rather than stretching it across three seasons. Stretching that $13MM would’ve created an extra $8.67MM in cap room for San Antonio, but the team had no immediate use for that extra room this season, and opted to keep Gallinari’s dead money off its books for 2023/24 and ’24/25.
There aren’t many remaining candidates to have their 2022/23 salaries stretched, but the deadline is still worth keeping in mind for the possibilities it will take off the table.
For example, while multiple reports have indicated that the Lakers have no plans to waive-and-stretch Russell Westbrook and his $47MM+ cap hit, it’s still technically an option for the club up until next Wednesday. Once the calendar flips to September 1, stretching Westbrook’s salary is no longer a possibility for L.A., and the only way for the club to reduce his ’22/23 cap hit would be to agree to a buyout.
Eastern Notes: Cavs, Mitchell, Sirvydis, Tatum, Raptors
Within his latest roundup of Donovan Mitchell rumors, Ian Begley of SNY.tv confirms that the Cavaliers have “touched base” with the Jazz about Mitchell in recent days. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 named Cleveland as one of the teams with interest in Mitchell in a Tuesday report.
Begley observes that the Cavaliers have the young players and draft picks necessary to make a competitive offer for Mitchell, but stresses that their level of interest in the Jazz star is unknown.
As I noted on Tuesday, it would be a little surprising to see the Cavaliers make a serious bid for someone like Mitchell after just locking up Darius Garland to a maximum-salary extension. Garland and Mitchell could theoretically play together, but going all-in to acquire another ball-dominant guard may not be the best use of assets for a Cavs team that has a greater need for a two-way forward.
Here’s more from around the East:
- Deividas Sirvydis‘ new one-year contract with the Pacers includes Exhibit 10 language, Hoops Rumors has learned. That means it could be converted into a two-way deal before opening night or could put Sirvydis in line to earn a $50K bonus if he’s waived and then spends at least 60 days with Indiana’s G League affiliate, the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.
- Reacting to the revelation that Jayson Tatum played through a non-displaced fracture in his wrist during the second half of the 2021/22 season, Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston observes that Tatum’s ability to stay on the court enhances his value to the Celtics. Since entering the NBA in 2017, Tatum has missed just 25 of 390 regular season games and has appeared in all 74 of Boston’s playoff contests.
- In the second installment of a two-part mailbag, Eric Koreen of The Athletic considers whether the Raptors would have real interest in Myles Turner as a trade target, evaluates what two-way player Jeff Dowtin brings to Toronto, and weighs whether another Canadian city could get an NBA expansion team.
Kevin Durant Notes: Reactions, Next Steps, More
While the Nets confirmed on Tuesday that Kevin Durant is officially off the trade market, some rival executives remain skeptical about just how hard the team tried to move him this summer, as Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com writes.
“What Brooklyn was asking for was ridiculous,” one executive involved in the process told Bulpett. “They knew it. We knew it.”
If the Nets’ intention all along was to hang onto Durant by setting an asking price that no team would be willing to meet, the situation played out exactly as they hoped. But even if they genuinely attempted to move him following his June 30 trade request, another league executive was impressed by how they handled the saga, Bulpett writes.
“Brooklyn just said, ‘Enough of this s–t.’ And good for them,” the exec told Heavy.com. “This should be a blueprint for every team that goes through something like this. … It’s important to maintain good relationships and loyalty and all that with your players, but if the player is doing something that’s hurting the team — hurting the business — then you have to stand your ground and remember how you got the money to buy the team in the first place.”
One league source who spoke to Bulpett suggested that Nets owner Joe Tsai was determined to reclaim control of the franchise after having all but ceded that control to Durant and Kyrie Irving for a few years when they signed with the team in 2019.
“He gave them the keys to the Ferrari and they took it out and they wrecked it — and he decided he wasn’t going to give them another set of keys,” that source said. “The statement he made on Twitter? That was Joe Tsai saying that he was going to be the one who decides who drives, and it isn’t going to be them.”
Here are several more items on Durant and the Nets:
- The Nets and Durant can talk about moving forward with their partnership all they want, but the foundation in Brooklyn has been fractured, according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, who says the team is under pressure to win in 2022/23 or risk finding itself in a similar situation next offseason.
- The Durant drama helped mask other major questions facing the Nets, including what they can realistically expect from Irving and Ben Simmons in ’22/23 after the two stars essentially had lost seasons in ’21/22, writes Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports.
- A handful of ESPN’s analysts, including Tim Bontemps and Bobby Marks, explore where Durant and the Nets go from here and make predictions about how long Durant and Irving will remain in Brooklyn and where the team currently stands in the East’s pecking order.
- In a YouTube video, ESPN’s Bobby Marks says one of his main takeaways from the Durant saga is that it’s OK for players to request trades and for teams ultimately not to grant those requests, suggesting that major changes to the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement shouldn’t be necessary.
- What exactly does Durant want? That question seems harder than ever to answer in the wake of this offseason’s drama, according to Chris Herring of SI.com, who says it’s unclear whether KD’s top priority is to win championships or to have things completely on his terms.
- In a column for The New York Post, Mike Vaccaro paints the Nets’ leadership group in an unflattering light and refers to the last couple months in Brooklyn as “the most laughable basketball saga we’ve ever seen.”
Tim Frazier Signs With AEK Athens
Veteran NBA guard Tim Frazier will play in Europe for the first time in his professional career, having signed a one-year contract with AEK Athens, the Greek team announced today in a press release.
Frazier, 31, went undrafted out of Penn State in 2014, but has since suited up for nine different NBA teams, appearing in a total of 289 regular season games, including 128 for New Orleans and 59 for Washington. In 2021/22, he played 10 games for the Magic and two for the Cavaliers on a series of 10-day deals.
Frazier has primarily served as a backup point guard at the NBA level, averaging 4.9 points and 4.0 assists per game with a .400/.323/.723 shooting line in 17.6 minutes per contest over the course of his eight-year career.
AEK Athens, Frazier’s new team, competes in the Greek Basketball League (GBL) and the Greek Cup in addition to FIBA’s Basketball Champions League. Earlier this offseason, AEK added free agent forward Cameron McGriff, who also saw some NBA action in 2021/22, appearing in three games for Portland.