Pacific Notes: Wiggins, Westbrook, Kyrie, LeBron
Fresh off his first NBA title and All-Star selection in 2021/22, Warriors starting small forward Andrew Wiggins is hoping to prove his mettle as one of the NBA’s best defensive players, as he told Vince Carter on the retired eight-time All-Star’s podcast, The VC Show with Vince Carter (h/t to Andrei de Guzman of TalkBasket).
“One thing I’m really gonna strive for this upcoming season is being on the [All-]Defensive Team,” Wiggins said. “That’s a big goal of mine, and hopefully I opened some eyes in the playoffs and I can be on the radar. I ain’t get not one vote this year! I took it personal in the playoffs!”
There’s more out of the Pacific Division:
- With Lakers All-Star forward LeBron James newly signed to a lucrative extension that will at least keep him in Los Angeles through 2024, it’s possible that L.A. will be more receptive to including draft capital in a trade to get off the contract of embattled point guard Russell Westbrook, opines Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. Pincus suspects that Westbrook could be moved to the Nets, Pacers or Spurs, should the Lakers indeed be willing to part with their 2027 and 2029 first-round draft picks. Pincus notes that the Jazz also have the assets to possibly pique the interest of the Lakers’ front office in a deal. During his first season with his hometown team, the 33-year-old veteran proved to be an awkward on-court fit alongside James as a ball-dominant guard without a jump shot or much defensive effort.
- Prior to his inking the aforementioned extension with the Lakers, James was “privately adamant” about wanting the Lakers trade for his former Cavaliers teammate Kyrie Irving, writes Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Whether such a transaction for the seven-time All-Star, currently with the Nets, comes to pass remains to be seen.
- The new two-year, $97.1MM contract extension James signed with the Lakers can benefit both James and Los Angeles, opines Dave McMenamin of ESPN (YouTube video link). By opting to commit to the Lakers at this juncture (the extension could have been signed as late as next summer), James has given the team the green light to make moves around him in order to hopefully resume deep playoff runs. In turn, the 17-time championship-winning Lakers want to showcase themselves as a desirable landing place for marquee free agents in the years to come. McMenamin adds that, should L.A. prove unable to compete at a championship level within the next two seasons, James is able to retain some of his future flexibility to an extent by making the second year of the deal, the 2024/25 season, a player option.
Woj: Lakers Willing To Trade Two First-Round Picks
The Lakers remain active in trade talks and would part with their 2027 and 2029 first-round picks in the right deal, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski said in an appearance on Sports Center (video link).
Those picks “have a lot of value in the marketplace” if they’re unprotected, Wojnarowski states. He adds that L.A. would be willing to give them up in a trade for Kyrie Irving, but the Nets haven’t been interested.
The Lakers have also engaged in “on and off again” talks with the Pacers about Myles Turner and Buddy Hield, sources tell Wojnarowski, but L.A. wouldn’t trade both future first-rounders in that deal.
Russell Westbrook would have to be included in either trade with Brooklyn or Indiana to help match salaries.
The Lakers are hoping to add outside shooting and size before the regular season begins in October, per Wojnarowski. However, holding on to their draft picks gives them the ability to do something later in the season if a better opportunity arises.
Woj also addresses LeBron James‘ decision to accept a contract extension, saying it eases the pressure on the front office to make a trade right away. He adds that James decided to take the extension after examining the free agent market in 2023 and not seeing a scenario he prefers to staying with the Lakers.
Pelicans Reportedly Unwilling To Offer Ingram In Package For Durant
The Pelicans are unwilling to include Brandon Ingram in a trade offer for Nets star Kevin Durant, league sources tell Christian Clark of NOLA.com.
New Orleans has been mentioned as a possible landing spot for Durant, who is pushing for a trade out of Brooklyn. Building an offer around Ingram would mean offering up a young forward with an All-Star nod on his résumé — the Pelicans would also be able to dip into their draft pick surplus from the Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday blockbusters to give the Nets the kind of future assets they’re believed to be seeking.
However, according to Clark, the Pelicans want to see how Ingram and Zion Williamson play together in 2022/23, with Williamson on track to return from a foot injury that sidelined him for the entire ’21/22 season. Michael Scotto of HoopsHype previously reported in late July that the Pelicans had yet to put Ingram on the table in trade talks for Durant.
While it’s possible New Orleans will make some minor roster changes before opening night, Clark says not to expect any “earth-shattering” moves, adding that it’s unlikely the club will get seriously involved in the Durant sweepstakes.
In his latest look at the Durant situation, Sam Amick of The Athletic writes that executives around the league view the Celtics as the “unofficial” frontrunners to land the 33-year-old due to their reported willingness to include Jaylen Brown in their offer. However, league sources tell Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe the C’s aren’t close to making a deal for Durant and haven’t even really engaged in any “discussions of substance” with the Nets.
Brooklyn could accelerate the process by lowering the asking price for the former MVP, but there’s no indication that will happen anytime soon, if at all.
“(Nets general manager Sean) Marks is still asking for the world; that won’t change,” one front executive told Amick late last week.
Latest On Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant‘s situation with the Nets has reached a stalemate, Brian Windhorst of ESPN reports (hat tip to RealGM). On Monday’s episode of Get Up, Windhorst said the Nets haven’t lowered their asking price.
“There hasn’t been an urgency in trade talks,” he said. “There hasn’t been a change in strategy by the Brooklyn Nets.”
Other teams aren’t backing down, either, as they refuse to give up the assets the Nets want. Meanwhile, Durant is stuck since he signed a long-term extension.
“First off, the Nets do not have leverage in trade talks with other teams. They are not giving them the offers that they want,” Windhorst said. “They see no reason to increase them. So, they’re not making any progress there. Kevin Durant clearly does not have leverage with the Brooklyn Nets. He is asking for things: ‘Get me traded. Fire the coach. Fire the GM.’ He is being told no. So, when you have denied leverage, you have a stalemate.”
We have more Durant-related news:
- Durant labeled the notion of him retiring is “comical,” he tweeted. “I know most people will believe unnamed sources over me but if it’s anyone out there that’ll listen, I don’t plan on retiring anytime soon,” he wrote.
- The tweet was a response to a Marc Stein Substack post in which Stein declared that a well-connected executive insisted last month that Durant was more apt to retire than play again for the Nets. Stein downplayed that comment but added that it’s quite possible Durant may refuse to report to training camp. According to Stein, many people around the league believe that if Durant hasn’t been traded when camps open, he’ll continue to cause a “ruckus” behind the scenes in order to force the Nets to lower their trade demands.
- Durant’s former teammate with the Warriors, Andre Iguodala, believes the two-time Finals MVP should withdraw his trade request, according to BasketNews.com. “I think he should stay in Brooklyn, it’s such a big market, it’s good for the game and just figure out how to make it work like everybody grow up and make it work,” Iguodala stated on the Point Forward podcast. “That’s how I feel about the situation.”
Sixers Reach Settlement Agreement With Ben Simmons
Ben Simmons and the Sixers have reached a settlement agreement on the grievance the All-Star guard filed to recoup a portion of the nearly $20MM withheld him as a result of his failure to play last season, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports.
The Sixers maintained Simmons breached his contract upon failing to show up for the start of training camp and refusing to play in preseason and regular season prior to trade deadline swap with the Nets. Simmons cited mental health reasons for his limited participation in team activities. He also was diagnosed with a back injury that prevented him from playing with Brooklyn last season.
Both sides agreed to a confidentiality agreement on the exact financial settlement, Wojnarowski adds.
The Players Association backed Simmons in the grievance, which was shared with the Sixers, the league, and the NBPA in early April. The issue was to be arbitrated, which could have set a precedent on how future matters regarding mental health and contracts might be handled. Instead, the two sides reached an agreement before an arbiter could hand down a decision.
Simmons had a cap hit of just over $33MM last season.
During the season, Sixers officials claimed that team doctors were given limited access to Simmons to diagnose and confirm his mental health issues.
After Simmons was traded, his representatives had several conversations with the 76ers but those talks ended without a resolution.
Beginning last November 15, the Sixers withheld approximately $360K for each game Simmons missed (1/91.6th of his overall salary). Simmons received a $16.5MM advance on his salary during the offseason, thus there wasn’t enough money in each paycheck to cover the per-game deductions.
Along with the amount for escrow that was withheld by the NBA, the Sixers deducted nearly $1.3MM of Simmons’ salary from each pay check.
Latest On Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant‘s standoff with the Nets over his desire to be traded is likely to continue into the start of the season, ESPN’s Bobby Marks said this week in an appearance on “NBA Today” (video link).
Marks theorizes that Durant hurt his cause with an ultimatum in his recent meeting with team owner Joe Tsai, saying he won’t return unless head coach Steve Nash and general manager Sean Marks are fired. Bobby Marks notes that the demand was bad for Durant’s image and speculates that he will eventually regret the way he handled it.
“This doesn’t force the issue,” the ESPN analyst said. “For Sean Marks or Steve Nash or Joe Tsai to say, ‘You know what, now we’ve got to trade him. Now we basically have to set an artificial timeline.’ The offers are the offers. We know what the offers are going to be and what they could potentially be, and this is why this is going to linger into the regular season.”
Also on “NBA Today,” ESPN’s Tim Bontemps said Durant’s stipulations will make things more awkward when the Nets gather for training camp next month. He adds that rival teams now have even less incentive to improve their offers because Durant has put Brooklyn in a difficult situation.
There’s more on Durant:
- Appearing in the same segment, Ramona Shelburne said a source told her that a lot more was addressed at last week’s meeting than Durant’s opinion of his coach and GM. The Nets viewed the discussion as “part of the process,” Shelburne adds, as Tsai wanted to better understand what’s making Durant want to leave.
- Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today talked to three executives from rival teams who want to see the Nets stand their ground with Durant and refuse to either trade him or part with Nash and Marks. Regarding possible trade destinations, three executives and agents that Zillgitt spoke to believe the Celtics are no longer involved in the Durant sweepstakes because president of basketball operations Brad Stevens doesn’t want to subject any more players to trade rumors. The Raptors and Heat were mentioned prominently, but only if Brooklyn agrees to lower its asking price.
- A rival executive tells Steve Bulpett of Heavy that the Celtics will probably remain part of the conversation until the Durant situation is resolved because Jaylen Brown is the best player who has been mentioned as part of a potential return.
And-Ones: Offseason, Tampering Rules, FA Signings
In a roundtable discussion, Howard Beck, Chris Mannix, Robin Lundberg, and Rohan Nadkarni discussed the best, worst, most surprising, and most intriguing moves of the 2022 NBA offseason, agreeing on some issues and sharing opposing views on others.
For instance, while Beck and Mannix both view the Rudy Gobert blockbuster as the best roster move of the summer, Beck makes the case that the Jazz‘s side of the deal was the offseason’s top move, while Mannix argues for the Timberwolves‘ side.
Beck, Lundberg, and Nadkarni, meanwhile, all named the Hawks‘ acquisition of Dejounte Murray as the summer’s most intriguing roster move, while Beck and Lundberg agree that Kevin Durant‘s trade request with four years left on his contract was the offseason’s worst move. From a basketball perspective, Durant would be best off staying in Brooklyn and playing for a Nets team that looks capable of contending for a title, Beck writes.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- The NBA’s tampering rules aren’t exactly working as intended, but it’s unclear if there’s any obvious way to fix them, writes Sarah Todd of The Deseret News. “The threat of harsher penalties and random audits doesn’t even make teams flinch,” one source told Todd. “And at this point, if we investigated every possible instance of tampering, the whole league would come to a screeching halt and nothing would ever get done.” According to Todd, multiple front office executives that she spoke to expressed support for moving free agency ahead of the draft, among other changes to the current system.
- David Aldridge of The Athletic wrapped up his series on which teams improved the most and least this offseason by listing his picks from 20 to 11 and from 10 to one. The Sixers were Aldridge’s choice for the team that made the best roster upgrades, followed by the Hawks, Nuggets, Celtics, and Timberwolves.
- Dan Devine of The Ringer shines a light on seven under-the-radar free agent agreements that he’s intrigued by, including the Heat‘s three-year deal with Caleb Martin, the Timberwolves‘ acquisition of Kyle Anderson, and the Pistons‘ investment in Marvin Bagley III.
Nets Notes: Durant, Marks, Nash, Simmons, Curry
Kevin Durant‘s four-year contract extension with the Nets, which he signed last year, went into effect the day after he made his trade request and includes advance payment language that required the team to cut him a hefty pay check on July 1, Marc Stein writes in his latest Substack story.
As we noted earlier today in our list of this season’s highest-paid players, Durant is owed a $42,969,845 base salary in 2022/23. According to Stein, the star forward’s contract calls for him to receive 50% of that figure ($21,484,922) in a pair of installments on July 1 and October 1. That means that Durant received $10,742,461 from the Nets on the day after he asked the team to trade him.
As Stein observes, the fact that Durant is owed another $10.7MM+ on October 1 adds another layer of drama to the question of whether or not he’ll show up for training camp during the last week of September if he hasn’t been traded by then. If he doesn’t report, it’s possible the Nets would decide to withhold that payment.
Here’s more out of Brooklyn:
- Elsewhere in his Substack story, Stein says there’s a growing belief among rival teams that Durant knew Nets owner Joe Tsai wouldn’t actually fire GM Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash when KD made his ultimatum. One prevailing theory, according to Stein, is that Durant is trying to sow discord in an effort to make the Nets lower their asking price and trade him “out of exasperation.” If that’s the endgame, it doesn’t appear to being according to plan so far.
- ESPN and ABC analyst Jeff Van Gundy said during a Sirius XM Radio appearance that he believes the relationship between Durant and the Nets (including Marks and Nash) can still be salvaged.
“I think it would be an awkward couple of days and then you win three in a row because I think if (Ben) Simmons comes back, (Joe) Harris comes back, (Kyrie) Irving is in a right space and is able to play and Durant comes back, they’ve got a really good team,” Van Gundy said, per Adam Zagoria of NJ.com. “And so winning helps camouflage any bad feelings and so I don’t think it will be as bad for as long as people might suspect on the outside.” - Simmons and Seth Curry are both eligible for contract extensions with the Nets, but Alex Schiffer of The Athletic doesn’t expect Brooklyn to lock up either player until the team has more clarity on its future. Even if the Nets get resolution on Durant and Irving, it seems unlikely they’d pursue an extension with Simmons, who has yet to play a game for the club and still has two years left on his current contract, but Curry – a free agent in 2023 – would be a logical candidate for a new deal.
Kevin Durant Notes: Sixers, Raptors, Celtics
- Responding to a report that suggested there may be some mutual interest between Kevin Durant and the Sixers, Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com evaluates whether or not Philadelphia could put together a competitive trade package for the Nets star. While Neubeck suggests an offer centered around Tobias Harris, Tyrese Maxey, and Matisse Thybulle wouldn’t be “laughable,” he believes other suitors could comfortably top it, given the 76ers’ limited draft assets.
- Damien Cox of The Toronto Star considers whether or not the Raptors should be seriously pursuing Durant, given the way the Nets forward’s recent demands have defied the “traditional owner-management-coach-player hierarchy” and the effect that could have on the culture the team has built in Toronto.
- The Celtics, who have spoken to the Nets about Durant, have made center Robert Williams unavailable in trade talks, sources tell Kurt Helin of NBC Sports.
Kevin Durant Rumors: Ultimatum, Harrington, Nash, Sixers, Celtics
The ultimatum that Kevin Durant presented to Nets owner Joe Tsai – trade me or fire Sean Marks and Steve Nash – hasn’t had its intended effect so far, Brian Windhorst said during an appearance on ESPN’s Get Up on Wednesday (video link).
Windhorst suggests that by presenting Tsai with such a “preposterous” alternative to trading him, Durant was hoping to “speed up the process,” since trade talks between the Nets and potential suitors had stagnated in recent weeks. However, the Nets appear to be digging in their heels, while Durant is running out of options.
“He has asked for a trade and it hasn’t been granted. He has asked for the coach and general manager to be fired and that hasn’t been granted,” Windhorst said. “And so now, how do you go forward and report to training camp when you’ve been told no? That’s now the coming drama with this situation.”
Given that multiple reports have indicated no team is willing to meet the Nets’ sky-high asking price for Durant, the 33-year-old’s goal may have been trying to force the team to lower that asking price to a point where a potential trade partner would meet it. But Windhorst points to Tsai’s statement supporting Marks and Nash as a sign the team isn’t willing to reduce its trade demands, at least for now.
“Obviously, the first sentence – where he’s saying he’s not firing his coach and GM – is important,” Windhorst said. “The second sentence was a message to Durant and the whole league, which is, ‘We’re going to do what’s best for the Brooklyn Nets.’
“That is code for, “We’re not going to make a trade just to satisfy this player, no matter how good he is and no matter how much pressure he’s going to put on us. We have all the cards, we have a four-year contract.’ And so I suspect that that will be their position come the start of training camp, and that could lead to Durant not showing up.”
Here’s more on Durant:
- A source tells Brian Lewis and Josh Kosman of The New York Post that the Nets’ decision to fire director of player development Adam Harrington this spring without consulting Durant is one source of tension between the player and the team. “There are simple things that erode a relationship,” the source told The Post. “You fired someone he was close to and didn’t have a conversation about it.” The same source suggested that Durant wants Marks to be fired because the star forward feels as if the GM “traded away too many pieces.”
- Both The New York Post and Ian Begley of SNY.tv pushed back against the idea that Durant was the one who urged the Nets to hire Nash as its head coach in 2020. Sources told Lewis and Kosman that Marks was the driving force behind that hiring, and Begley has heard the same thing.
- According to Begley, there are some “high-ranking” members of the Sixers who have been interested in engaging the Nets in discussions about a Durant trade. A Philadelphia offer would likely have to include Tobias Harris, Tyrese Maxey, Matisse Thybulle, and draft assets. However, the 76ers’ ability to trade additional first-round picks is limited (they already owe two to Brooklyn), and Harris’ pricey multiyear contract limits his trade value, so it’s unlikely such a package would appeal to the Nets.
- Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe hears from a source that the Nets “initially tried to pry” both Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum from the Celtics for Durant, which Boston obviously had no interest in. The C’s also rebuffed Brooklyn’s attempt to acquire Brown, Marcus Smart, and several first-round picks in exchange for Durant, Himmelsbach adds.
- According to Begley, Durant would have interest in playing in Boston, but he’d like to play with Smart if he’s traded to the Celtics. Begley also cites people familiar with the situation who say Durant would view Philadelphia as a “desirable landing spot.”
- Celtics president Brad Stevens and head coach Ime Udoka have kept Brown in the loop about the Durant trade conversations, and Brown seems to understand the situation, a league source tells Himmelsbach.