Nets Notes: Irving, Dragic, Nash, Harris
The Nets and point guard Kyrie Irving got some promising news today, as New York City mayor Eric Adams told reporters that he “can’t wait” to phase out the city’s COVID-19 vaccine requirements for indoor spaces.
Irving has been unable to play home games all season long due to the local regulations that apply to unvaccinated athletes, but the mayor’s comments today suggest those regulations could be adjusted in the coming weeks.
“I’m not going to get ahead of the science,” Adams said (video link via The Glue Guys). “… They gave us benchmarks. We’re going to follow those benchmarks. But I look forward to the next few weeks going through a real transformation. … We’re moving in the right direction. We’re going to do it in a safe way.”
For now, New York City’s vaccine mandate remains unchanged, so Irving will be ineligible to suit up when the Nets host Boston on Thursday night. But if the city plans to phase out the mandate within the next several weeks, that bodes well for Kyrie’s chances of suiting up in the postseason, which begins in mid-April.
Here’s more on the Nets:
- While Goran Dragic is looking forward to playing alongside stars like Kevin Durant, Ben Simmons, and Irving, his decision to sign with the Nets was ultimately influenced by his relationship with head coach Steve Nash, who assured Dragic he’d be an important part of the team, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. “If it wasn’t for Nash, Dragic would be either with the Bucks or Clippers,” a source told Scotto.
- A source tells Scotto that the Nets and Joe Harris will likely make a decision on whether or not the forward needs a second ankle surgery after seeing how things go this week with his recovery process.
- His roster doesn’t look like he expected it to when the season began, but general manager Sean Marks hasn’t adjusted his expectations for the Nets, as Brian Lewis of The New York Post writes. “Championship. That’s it,” Marks said to a group of season-ticket holders. “I’d be doing 17 players and another 60 staff members over there a massive disservice if I said anything other than that, because that’s what we’re all here for.”
Cavaliers Promote Mike Gansey To General Manager
11:10am: The Cavs have officially announced Gansey’s promotion to general manager, confirming the move in a press release.
“Mike has been an incredible resource to me and this organization and his work behind the scenes gives me great confidence that he is ready to take on more of a leadership role,” Altman said in a statement. “His community roots provides a unique perspective when evaluating players and the type of commitment needed to make a positive impact in Cleveland. I could not think of a better person to work alongside as we continue building this team toward sustainable success.”
The team has also promoted senior director of player personnel Brandon Weems to assistant GM, among other moves.
10:57am: The Cavaliers are promoting Mike Gansey to the position of general manager, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Gansey’s previous title was assistant GM.
Gansey’s promotion comes in the wake of Koby Altman – who had been Cleveland’s GM – being elevated to president of basketball operations last month when he signed a long-term contract extension.
As Wojnarowski details, Gansey was born and raised in Olmstead Falls, a suburb of Cleveland. He played college ball at St. Bonaventure and West Virginia from 2001-06 and then played professionally from 2006-11 before joining the Cavs’ front office as an intern.
Over the last decade, Gansey has steadily climbed up the team’s basketball operations ladder, first under former GM Chris Grant, then under David Griffin, and finally under Altman. He earned G League Executive of the Year honors in 2017 as the general manager of the Cavs’ NBAGL affiliate.
According to Wojnarowski, Gansey has played a role in many of Cleveland’s most noteworthy recent roster moves, including drafting Darius Garland and Evan Mobley and trading for Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert.
Warriors Notes: Wiggins, Looney, Poole, Wiseman, Thompson
The Warriors already have the NBA’s most expensive roster, but their payroll may only continue to rise in the coming years, writes Connor Letourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle.
As Letourneau outlines, Kevon Looney will be an unrestricted free agent in 2022 and has earned a raise on his current $5.2MM salary; Jordan Poole will be extension-eligible this offseason; and Andrew Wiggins will be entering the final year of his contract in 2022/23.
This season, those three players are earning a combined $39MM, but if Golden State wants to hang onto them going forward, that cost will likely increase substantially beginning in ’23/24, when new deals for Wiggins and Poole would go into effect. Keith Smith of Spotrac estimates that Poole’s next contract could be worth in the neighborhood of $80MM over four years, Letourneau notes.
With all this in mind, Letourneau wonders if Wiggins could be the Warriors’ odd man out. The former No. 1 overall pick has thrived in Golden State, earning his first All-Star nod this season, but Letourneau is unconvinced that the organization would be prepared to give him another maximum-salary contract next year, pushing team salary over $200MM (not counting tax penalties) — especially if Jonathan Kuminga proves increasingly capable of eventually taking over Wiggins’ starting forward spot.
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- Within that same Chronicle story, Letourneau suggests that Looney could be in line for a multiyear deal worth about $6MM annually this offseason, and says the Warriors will make an effort to extend Poole during the 2022 offseason.
- Cyrus Saatsaz of Locked on Warriors (video link) states that his cohost Dieter Kurtenbach of The Bay Area News Group has heard from a source that James Wiseman will return to action for Golden State on March 1, which would be the team’s third game after the All-Star break. Wiseman has described himself as being in the late stages of his rehab process, so we could certainly see him soon, though it’s worth noting that Klay Thompson‘s return was initially projected to happen before Christmas, and he didn’t make his season debut until January 9. Like they did with Thompson, the Warriors will play it safe with Wiseman, making sure he doesn’t play until he’s 100%.
- Speaking of Thompson, while he feels fully healthy, he’s still in the process of working his way back to his pre-injury form, as he tells Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “I had a good game, but I want to put together a string of games,” Thompson said after a 33-point performance against the Lakers earlier this month. “I want to be back to playing at an elite level when I was making All-NBA teams. I know that’s going to come. I’m ahead of schedule from where I thought I’d be. I’m very competitive. I want to shoot at a high percentage. I want to be as efficient as I was.” Thompson added that he also wants to continue improving on defense, where he feels as if he has about “80 to 85 percent” of his lateral quickness back.
Hoops Rumors Glossary: Starter Criteria
The NBA’s rookie scale, which determines how much first-round picks earn during their first four NBA seasons, also dictates how much the qualifying offers will be worth for those players once they’re eligible for restricted free agency after year four. However, the value of those qualifying offers can fluctuate depending on whether or not a player has met the “starter criteria.”
Here’s how the starter criteria works:
A player who is eligible for restricted free agency is considered to have met the starter criteria if he plays at least 2,000 minutes or starts 41 games in the season before he reaches free agency.
A player can also meet the criteria if he averages either of those marks in the two seasons prior to his restricted free agency. Due to the fact that only 72 games were played in the 2020/21 season, these requirements have been slightly adjusted, but will return to normal next season.
A player’s ability or inability to meet the starter criteria impacts the value of the qualifying offer he receives as a restricted free agent, as follows:
A top-14 pick who does not meet the starter criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the 15th overall pick would receive if he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.
- Note: For the summer of 2022, the value of this QO will be $7,228,448.
- Example: Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton (2018’s No. 8 overall pick) won’t meet the starter criteria this season. As a result, he’ll be eligible for a QO worth $7,228,448 instead of $8,559,357.
- A player picked between 10th and 30th who meets the criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the ninth overall pick would receive if he signed for 120% of the rookie scale.
- Note: For the summer of 2022, the value of this QO will be $7,921,300.
- Example: Hornets forward Miles Bridges (2018’s No. 12 overall pick) has met the starter criteria this season. As a result, he’ll be eligible for a QO worth $7,921,300 instead of $7,459,974.
- A second-round pick or undrafted player who meets the criteria will receive a qualifying offer equal to the amount the 21st overall pick would receive if he signed for 100% of the rookie scale.
- Note: For the summer of 2022, the value of this QO will be $4,869,012.
- Example: Thunder wing Luguentz Dort (an undrafted free agent) has met the starter criteria this season. As a result, he’ll be eligible for a QO worth $4,869,012 instead of $2,228,276 if Oklahoma City declines his team option to make him a restricted free agent.
- Note: For the summer of 2022, the value of this QO will be $4,869,012.
- For all other RFAs, the standard criteria determine the amounts of their qualifying offers.
Extending a qualifying offer to a player who is eligible for restricted free agency officially makes that player an RFA, ensuring that his team has the right of first refusal if he signs an offer sheet with another club. It also gives the player the option of signing that one-year QO.
Generally, the value of a restricted free agent’s qualifying offer isn’t hugely important, since very few RFAs accept those offers outright. There are exceptions though.
In 2020, for instance, Kris Dunn met the starter criteria, which ensured that his qualifying offer would have been worth $7,091,457 instead of $4,642,800. The Bulls opted not to extend that $7MM+ QO, making him an unrestricted free agent, and he ended up signing a two-year, $10MM contract with Atlanta. If Dunn hadn’t met the starter criteria, it’s possible Chicago would’ve been more comfortable issuing a $4.6MM qualifying offer, which would’ve significantly changed the way Dunn’s free agency played out.
We’ll revisit the starter criteria at season’s end to see which of 2022’s potential restricted free agents will have their qualifying offers impacted by meeting – or failing to meet – the starter criteria.
So far, of this year’s RFAs-to-be, Bridges, Dort (team option), Deandre Ayton, Mohamed Bamba, and Jae’Sean Tate (team option) have met the starter criteria. There are a few players who could still get there, led by Anfernee Simons, who has made 26 starts and logged 1,555 minutes.
Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Information from Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ and RealGM was used in the creation of this post. Earlier versions of this post were published in 2019 and 2020.
Kevin Pangos Signs With CSKA Moscow
Following a brief stint in the NBA, guard Kevin Pangos has returned to Europe, having signed a contract with CSKA Moscow, the Russian club announced in a press release. The deal will run through 2024, according to the team.
Pangos, 29, headed overseas after going undrafted out of Gonzaga in 2015 and developed into one of Europe’s top point guards over the course of several seasons. In 2020/21, he averaged 13.5 PPG and 6.6 APG on .449/.390/.845 shooting in 39 EuroLeague contests (28.9 MPG) for Zenit Saint Petersburg, earning a spot on the All-EuroLeague First Team.
Pangos’ strong international play earned him a shot in the NBA in 2021/22, but he was unable to gain much traction after signing with Cleveland, appearing in just 24 games and logging just 6.9 minutes per contest. He averaged 1.6 PPG and 1.3 APG on .326/.231/.750 shooting in a reserve role for the Cavaliers.
Prior to this month’s trade deadline, rumors began circulating in international outlets that Pangos was on the verge of an agreement with CSKA Moscow, though the Cavs didn’t officially waive him until this past Saturday. Pangos cleared waivers on Monday and will now join a CSKA squad that is jockeying for playoff seeding in the EuroLeague — the team currently holds the No. 6 spot, with a 14-10 record.
Pangos will be one of several players on CSKA Moscow’s roster with NBA experience, joining the likes of Alexey Shved, Joel Bolomboy, and Tornike Shengelia.
Suns Notes: Paul, Payne, McGee, Ayton, Sarver
Suns head coach Monty Williams enjoyed being involved in the All-Star festivities over the weekend, leading Team LeBron to a 163-160 victory in Sunday’s contest. However, he didn’t let the event distract him from preparing for life without Chris Paul after the break, as Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic writes. The All-NBA guard is expected to miss at least six-to-eight weeks due to a fractured thumb.
“Naturally, you have to,” Williams said of preparing to play for Paul’s absence. “I’ve had meetings with our coaches about what we’re going to do going forward. Different lineups. Rotations. How we’re going to play. Chris is a huge part of what we do. And so we’re not going to try to replace him. We’re just going to try to play the same way and keep our standard at a high level and I’m grateful for the depth that we.”
Examining the impact of Paul’s injury on the Suns, Cole Huff of The Athletic suggests it might not be a disaster for the team. Huff believes Phoenix – which has a 6.5-game lead for the West’s No. 1 seed – can hang onto the top spot in the West, and points out that even if Paul’s absence extends into the first round of the playoffs, the team would still be heavy favorites against a No. 8 seed.
Here are a few more notes on the Suns:
- After previously reporting that the Suns expected Cameron Payne to return from his right wrist injury in the first game after the All-Star break, John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link) now says the veteran point guard may need a few more days before he’s back on the court. With both Payne and Paul sidelined, Devin Booker, Aaron Holiday, and Elfrid Payton figure to take on more ball-handling responsibilities.
- Noting that JaVale McGee and Deandre Ayton have been two of the NBA’s most effective pick-and-roll big men so far this season, Zach Harper of The Athletic wonders how their production might be affected with Paul not in the lineup.
- Speaking to reporters at All-Star Weekend, NBA commissioner Adam Silver didn’t provide an update on the league’s investigation into Suns owner Robert Sarver, simply stating that it’s “ongoing.” However, general manager James Jones said he believes the probe should be completed “soon,” Rankin writes for The Arizona Republic.
Southwest Notes: McCollum, Zion, Doncic, Brunson, Murray
After revealing in a TNT interview on Saturday that he hadn’t been in contact at all with Zion Williamson since being traded to New Orleans, Pelicans guard CJ McCollum tells Malika Andrews of ESPN (Twitter link) that the star forward has since reached out to him and the two have spoken.
Williamson has been away from the Pelicans as he rehabs a foot injury that has sidelined him for the entire season, but it was still surprising that he and McCollum hadn’t had any communication nearly two weeks after New Orleans agreed to trade for the standout guard.
Current ESPN analyst and former Pelicans guard J.J. Redick criticized Williamson today for what he called a “complete lack of investment” in the team, describing him as a “detached teammate.” However, while the incident may fuel more speculation about Zion’s commitment to the Pels, there has been no indication that people within the organization viewed it as a serious problem.
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Appearing on 1310 The Ticket in Dallas on Tuesday, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he thinks Luka Doncic was “humbled a little bit” by criticism at the start of this season about his conditioning, as Tim MacMahon of ESPN relays. “I think he didn’t like being called out for his weight and other things, and it finally clicked that there’s a level of discipline that’s required,” Cuban said, adding that Doncic has been “unstoppable” since getting in better shape. “All athletes at his level go through it at some level, where things are just easy and you’re always used to being the best and you’re always used to getting all the accolades. Then when something doesn’t go according to expected, it makes you reconsider.”
- Keith Smith of Spotrac examines what an offseason contract for Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson might look like, noting that Brunson isn’t a legitimate candidate for a maximum-salary contract, but should get more than what Dallas can currently offer in an extension ($55.6MM over four years).
- Having made his first All-Star team this season, Spurs guard Dejounte Murray is already eager to prove he can do it again, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. “I’m not a one-hit wonder. I got to be back here,” Murray said on Sunday. “… There ain’t no way I can miss out on these types of events. It was a hell of a weekend. I have to keep working.”
Dennis Schröder, Rockets Not Pursuing Buyout Agreement
Veteran point guard Dennis Schröder is on track to finish the 2021/22 season with the Rockets, reports Marc Stein (via Twitter). According to Stein, neither the player nor the team is pushing for a buyout.
Schröder, who signed a one-year deal with the Celtics last summer, was sent from Boston to Houston as the trade deadline in a four-player swap involving Daniel Theis. Given that the Rockets – who are 15-43 and rank last in the Western Conference – are out of the playoff race and immediately waived another veteran involved in that deal (Enes Freedom), there was speculation that a buyout for Schröder could be in the cards.
However, shortly after the trade deadline passed, Rockets general manager Rafael Stone spoke enthusiastically about Schröder’s potential role in Houston, and the 28-year-old showed right away that he could provide value, putting up 23 points and nine assists in Phoenix in his second game as a Rocket. Perhaps more importantly, he seems to be a good fit alongside rookies Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun, both on and off the court.
Assuming he finishes the season in Houston as planned, Schröder will reach unrestricted free agency again this summer, at which point the Rockets would hold his Non-Bird rights.
Goran Dragic and Tristan Thompson have been the biggest names to hit the buyout market so far, and it’s possible more veterans will join them by March 1. But there has been no indication that any agreements are imminent, so many of this season’s top buyout candidates could – like Schröder – end up finishing the season with their current teams.
Former Pelican J.J. Redick: Zion Williamson A “Detached Teammate”
Responding to the news that CJ McCollum hasn’t yet had a chance to speak to Pelicans star Zion Williamson since being acquired by New Orleans at this month’s trade deadline, ESPN analyst J.J. Redick expressed disbelief and criticized Williamson for not being more engaged with the team.
“This is a little bit insane to me. There’s a general decorum of behavior that you should apply as a teammate,” Redick said on ESPN’s First Take on Tuesday (video link). “Look, I wasn’t the best player on any team I was on, but if there was a buyout possibility, if there was a trade possibility, I would always reach out to teammates. I called Ersan Ilyasova, I called Marco [Belinelli], I called Wes Matthews trying to get him to come to Philly. This just shows a complete lack of investment in your team, in the organization, in the city.”
Williamson, who underwent foot surgery during the offseason, has yet to play this season and has been rehabbing away from the team since early January. However, Redick doesn’t view that as a reasonable excuse for the star forward’s lack of communication with McCollum.
“I get that he’s hurt and away from the team, but you just traded for one of the 50 best players in the league, a guy that’s supposed to be paired with you,” Redick said. “Reach out and say hello.”
[UPDATE: McCollum says he has spoken to Williamson since Saturday]
Typically, opinions from an ESPN analyst about a player aren’t particularly newsworthy, since that analyst is often sharing his two cents without any inside info on the player or the team. However, this situation is a little different.
Besides being teammates with Williamson from 2019-21 before he retired as a player, Redick is also a fellow Duke alum, a fellow CAA client, and has publicly criticized of Pelicans head of basketball operations David Griffin, as Scott Kushner of NOLA.com tweets. As such, Redick’s comments about Zion are especially eyebrow-raising.
“This is a pattern of behavior with Zion that we are seeing again and again. And look, I was his teammate. I can describe him as a detached teammate. That is an accurate statement,” Redick said. “This is basic level of humanity, being a teammate. Send a text to a guy when he gets traded to your team. That is just normal behavior. That’s the bare minimum that you have to do.
“… This is something I addressed with Zion in front of the team,” Redick later added. “This is going back to his rookie year. There’s a responsibility that you have as an athlete when you play a team sport to be fully invested. You’re fully invested in your body, you’re fully invested in your work, and you’re fully invested in your teammates. That is your responsibility, and we have not seen that from Zion.”
Williamson’s desire to play for the Pelicans has been questioned since the 2019 draft lottery, when New Orleans won the No. 1 pick over bigger-market teams like the Knicks and Lakers. One report during the 2021 offseason suggested that some of Williamson’s family members wanted him out of New Orleans, while a subsequent story claimed that Zion and Griffin aren’t on particularly great terms.
For his part, the former No. 1 overall pick has repeatedly stated that he loves playing in New Orleans, but Redick and his ESPN colleague Stephen A. Smith expressed skepticism about Zion’s long-term commitment to the franchise.
“He’s never publicly come out and said, ‘I don’t want to be in New Orleans.’ But as we know, Stephen A., because we follow the league, where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Redick said. “You didn’t hear rumors about Giannis [Antetokounmpo] being unhappy in Milwaukee. With Zion, you’ve heard that now for the last three years.”
Williamson will be eligible for a rookie scale extension during the 2022 offseason. Although no player has ever turned down a maximum-salary rookie scale extension, it’s unclear whether the Pelicans would even be comfortable putting that sort of offer on the table, given that injuries have limited Williamson to just 85 games since he entered the league in 2019.
When the Sixers extended Joel Embiid following his third NBA season, he had only appeared in 31 career games, so the two sides agreed to include injury-related language in his max deal in order to protect the team. The Pelicans and Williamson could theoretically explore a similar arrangement, but first they’ll have to decide whether the union is one they even want to continue for the next several seasons.
“New Orleans is going to have to make some sort of decision here,” Redick said. “We’ve seen this now for three years.”
Quinn Cook, Jahm’ius Ramsey, Others Sign G League Contracts
A series of NBA free agents have signed contracts with the G League, according to the NBAGL transactions log. Veteran guard Quinn Cook and former Kings Jahmi’us Ramsey and Robert Woodard II – both of whom were waived earlier this month – are among the players entering the G League.
Cook, who has 188 career NBA appearances under his belt, began the 2021/22 season playing overseas with Lokomotiv Kuban, but left the Russian team in December in what was deemed a mutual decision. Ramsey and Woodard were second-round picks in the 2020 draft, but never developed into regular rotation players in Sacramento, appearing in just 32 and 25 total games, respectively.
Woodard was initially claimed by the Iowa Wolves and has since been traded to the Oklahoma City Blue (the Thunder‘s NBAGL affiliate). Cook and Ramsey signed their contracts more recently and have yet to land with new teams.
Malik Fitts, Ky Bowman, Karim Mane, and Daulton Hommes are among the other players with NBA experience who have signed G League contracts within the last week. Although Hommes technically has yet to appear in an NBA regular season game, he spent the first two months of this season on a two-way deal with New Orleans, earning a year of NBA service.
Fitts’ returning rights belong to the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario, while Bowman has been traded to the Austin Spurs. Mane has landed with the Greensboro Swarm, the Hornets‘ G League team, while Hommes rejoined the Birmingham Squadron, the Pelicans‘ affiliate.
Finally, former Warriors and Magic guard Mychal Mulder has also signed a G League contract, a source tells our JD Shaw (Twitter link). Mulder, who was waived by Orlando last month, appeared in 15 games this season and has played in 82 total NBA contests since 2020.
None of these players’ rights are held by an NBA team, so they remain free to sign a standard contract or a two-way deal with any of the league’s 30 clubs.