Nets Notes: Allen, Durant, Harden
Nets center Jarrett Allen didn’t receive a rookie scale contract extension prior to Monday’s deadline in part because of luxury tax concerns. However, head coach Steve Nash believes Allen will get rewarded handsomely down the line, according to Chris Milholen of NetsDaily. “He’s got a bright future,” Nash said. “He is going to have a big contract whenever the time is and we are just trying to figure out who we are as a team.” Brooklyn can make Allen a restricted free agent next summer by extending him a $5.66MM qualifying offer.
We have more on the Nets:
- Kevin Durant has played like an All-Star in his first two games since returning from a ruptured Achilles tendon. It’s still too early to know the long-term impact of the injury, Alex Schiffer of The Athletic notes. Nash warns against any knee-jerk reactions. “He looks like Kevin, he plays like Kevin, but I don’t want to start making expectations of him until he gets going and gets some games and some rhythm under his belt and adapts to playing three in four nights and playing almost every other night for a stretch,” Nash said.
- In the short run, Durant has been everything the franchise hoped when it signed him to a max deal, Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post writes. Durant had 29 points in 33 minutes against the Celtics on Christmas Day and the Nets can expect to have the best player on the floor most nights with him in the lineup.
- Nash talks regularly with GM Sean Marks, but the subject of a potential James Harden deal hasn’t come up, according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post. The disgruntled Rockets star initially said he wanted to be traded to Brooklyn but subsequently expanded his wish list. “I haven’t had any conversations about him,” Nash said. “So, you know, we definitely work in close proximity. I haven’t any conversations or any alerts, so maybe that says it all.”
2020/21 NBA Disabled Player Exceptions
A disabled player exception can be granted when an NBA team has a player go down with an injury deemed to be season-ending. The exception gives the club some additional spending flexibility, functioning almost as a cross between a traded player exception and a mid-level exception.
We go into more detail on who qualifies for disabled player exceptions and how exactly they work in our glossary entry on the subject. But essentially, a DPE gives a team the opportunity to add an injury replacement by either signing a player to a one-year contract, trading for a player in the final year of his contract, or placing a waiver claim on a player in the final year of his contract.
Because the rules related to disable player exceptions are somewhat restrictive and the exceptions themselves often aren’t worth a lot, they often simply expire without being used. Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on which disabled player exceptions have been granted, just in case.
We’ll use this space to break down the teams with disabled player exceptions available for the 2020/21 league year, updating it as the season progresses if more teams are granted DPEs and/or to indicate which ones have been used.
Teams have until March 3 to apply for a disabled player exception and until April 19 to actually use them.
Here’s the list so far:
Teams that have been granted disabled player exceptions:
- Golden State Warriors:
- $9,258,000 (Klay Thompson) (story)
The Warriors were granted a disabled player exception following Thompson’s season-ending Achilles tear. Because his salary exceeds $35MM+, Golden State’s exception is worth the amount of the mid-level exception. However, it remains to be seen how enthusiastic the team will be to use it. The Warriors, who are way over the luxury tax line, already project to have the NBA’s most expensive roster in 2020/21.
- Orlando Magic:
- $6,144,349 (Markelle Fultz) (story)
- $3,681,283 (Jonathan Isaac) (story)
Two of Orlando’s young building blocks suffered torn ACLs that will sideline them for the entire 2020/21 season, resulting in a pair of disabled player exceptions for the team. However, the Magic have a full 15-man roster and aren’t far from the tax line, which will limit their options as they consider whether or not to use it.
- Brooklyn Nets:
- $5,727,024 (Spencer Dinwiddie) (story)
Brooklyn received a disabled player exception after Dinwiddie underwent ACL reconstruction surgery. Like the Warriors, the Nets project to have a significant luxury tax bill at the end of the 2020/21 season, so they’ll be careful about using their disabled player exception. Since Brooklyn still has its full taxpayer mid-level exception, the DPE could be more useful on the trade market.
- Miami Heat:
$4,700,000 (Meyers Leonard) (story)
Leonard’s season-ending shoulder surgery paved the way for the Heat to apply for and receive a disabled player exception. However, they forfeited that exception when they agreed to send Leonard to Oklahoma City in a trade for Trevor Ariza.
- Washington Wizards:
- $4,166,666 (Thomas Bryant) (story)
The Wizards were granted a disabled player exception in response to Bryant’s ACL tear. The team doesn’t have the flexibility to use the full exception and remain out of luxury tax territory unless it sheds salary elsewhere.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Community Shootaround: Christmas Day Games
When the 2019/20 NBA season ended in October, it didn’t seem likely that we’d see another NBA game played until some time in the new year, perhaps even as late as February or March. But the league accelerated its plans for the 2020/21 regular season in the fall, ensuring that an annual tradition was preserved: the five-game Christmas Day slate.
Today’s schedule is as follows:
- New Orleans Pelicans at Miami Heat (11:00am central time)
- Golden State Warriors at Milwaukee Bucks (1:30pm CT)
- Brooklyn Nets at Boston Celtics (4:00pm CT)
- Dallas Mavericks at Los Angeles Lakers (7:00pm CT)
- Los Angeles Clippers at Denver Nuggets (9:30pm CT)
A couple of these matchups look even more tantalizing today than they did a week ago. The Pelicans, for instance, looked awfully impressive in their opening-night game against Toronto on Wednesday and will be going up against the defending Eastern champion Heat, who are hungry for their first win of the season.
A Stephen Curry/Giannis Antetokounmpo showdown between the Warriors and Bucks will be followed by a matchup of two potential Eastern Conference contenders who looked great on opening night, the Nets and Celtics.
Luka Doncic and the Mavericks and LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers will all be looking for their first win of the season in the evening.
And the night is capped off with a rematch of last year’s Western Conference Semifinals, with Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and the Clippers visiting Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and the Nuggets.
Which game are you most looking forward to watch today? Which five teams are you picking to win the Christmas Day games? Use the comment section below to weigh in with your thoughts and make your predictions!
New York Notes: Ntilikina, Point Guards, Stoudemire, Thibs
Ahead of the first game of the 2020/21 Knicks season, point guard Frank Ntilikina stated that the sore left Achilles that had limited his preseason availability had fully recovered, according to Ian Begley of SNY (Twitter link). Ntilikina, the No. 8 pick in the 2017 draft, also noted that he and the Knicks did not discuss a potential contract extension ahead of Monday’s deadline, as we previously detailed.
The future of Ntilikina, the final lottery pick of former Knicks team president Phil Jackson, remains unclear, as Steve Popper of Newsday details. He will be eligible to become a restricted free agent in the 2021 offseason.
There’s more out of the City That Never Sleeps:
- Reserve point guards Dennis Smith Jr. and Ntilikina would not have made the cut for the club’s 10-man rotation in the Knicks’ season opener, a 121-107 loss to the Pacers, had rookie point guard Immanuel Quickley not gotten injured in the second quarter with a hip pointer, per Marc Berman of the New York Post. Both guards are former top-10 2017 NBA draft picks. Head coach Tom Thibodeau opted to play shooting guard Alec Burks as his initial replacement before ultimately bringing in Ntilikina for five minutes of relatively ineffective play. “We wanted to keep as much shooting on the floor as we can to try to create the opportunities that we’re looking for factored into it,” Thibodeau explained.
- New Nets player development assistant Amar’e Stoudemire was reticent to make the leap from player to coach this summer after another productive season with the Israeli Basketball Premier League club Maccabi Tel Aviv, per Marc Stein of the New York Times. A six-time All-Star with the Suns and Knicks, the 38-year-old Stoudemire is reuniting with former Phoenix running mate Steve Nash, now Brooklyn’s head coach, and former Suns head coach Mike D’Antoni, now another assistant on Nash’s bench. “We wanted him to come in and share all the things that he learned from his experiences — but also to learn about coaching, video analysis, analytics and the front office,” Nash said. “I get to learn from all departments,” Stoudemire said, “to see where I want my career to go.”
- Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau is smartly prioritizing building good habits and player development rather than worrying about the club’s win-loss record, according to Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post. “You either win,” Thibodeau said, “or you learn.”
Latest Details On NBA G League Bubble
Seventeen teams have indicated that they plan to participate in the NBA G League bubble, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN, who notes that the G League Ignite select team will be the 18th squad.
While we don’t yet have a full, official list of the teams participating in the G League bubble, Ridiculous Upside has done a good job passing along reports (including some of ours) and providing new details on which clubs are in and out. Their list includes 13 teams believed to be in, not counting the Ignite, as follows:
- Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario (Clippers)
- Austin Spurs (Spurs)
- Canton Charge (Cavaliers)
- Delaware Blue Coats (Sixers)
- Fort Wayne Mad Ants (Pacers)
- Lakeland Magic (Magic)
- Long Island Nets (Nets)
- Memphis Hustle (Grizzlies)
- Oklahoma City Blue (Thunder)
- Raptors 905 (Raptors)
- Salt Lake City Stars (Jazz)
- Santa Cruz Warriors (Warriors)
- Westchester Knicks (Knicks)
G League expert Adam Johnson says the Greensboro Swarm (Hornets), Iowa Wolves (Timberwolves), and Erie BayHawks (Pelicans) are also expected to take part (Twitter link).
The G League reportedly asked for teams to volunteer to opt out, since bringing 29 franchises to the bubble wouldn’t have been logistically possible, so the clubs passing on the bubble aren’t necessarily doing so because they’re not interested in participating.
Teams opting out of the bubble who signed players to Exhibit 10 contracts before the season will be given the option to loan or “flex” those players to another G League team for the bubble and will be responsible for paying all expenses for those players, Givony explains.
The Wizards, for example, aren’t expected to have the Capital City Go-Go play in the bubble, but will likely use the Pelicans’ affiliate – the BayHawks – as their temporary affiliate for their former Exhibit 10 players, such as Caleb Homesley, Marlon Taylor, and Yoeli Childs, tweets Fred Katz of The Athletic.
A G League draft would take place in January, according to Givony, who reports that players whose returning rights are held by non-bubble teams would temporarily be dispersed to other clubs in that draft. If non-bubble teams don’t want to “flex” their former Exhibit 10 players to G League teams participating in the bubble, those players will also enter the draft pool, says Givony.
Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News reported earlier this week that the tentative start date for the G League season is February 8. Adam Zagoria of Forbes (Twitter link) shares a more detailed breakdown of the proposed timeline, which would see G League players and staffers begin an “at-home” quarantine period on January 13.
Givony confirms that teams participating in the bubble still expect to play a minimum of 12 games apiece (not including the playoffs), as was reported in November.
Finally, Givony reports that the G League is making adjustments to its roster rules to make it easier for NBA teams to recruit and sign veterans with five or more years of NBA experience. Each team will be able to designate an “NBA Vet Selection” who fits that bill, and won’t have to navigate the NBAGL’s complicated waiver process to add that player, per Givony.
As Johnson tweets, the rule will be a one-off for this season and will allow – for instance – the Warriors to add Jeremy Lin to their Santa Cruz affiliate, like they wanted to.
Nets Notes: Durant, Irving, LeVert, Green
It took nearly 18 months for Kevin Durant to make his debut in a Nets uniform after Brooklyn landed him as the top prize in the 2019 free agency sweepstakes, but he turned out to be worth the wait, writes Malika Andrews of ESPN. Durant wasn’t quite at his former MVP level, but he put up 22 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals and brought a new level of excitement to the Nets, who crushed the Warriors to open the new NBA season.
“I don’t think I have to show anybody anything,” Durant said. “I’m just going to come out there and just hoop. … So, I don’t feel like I’ve got to prove myself, but I want to go out there and be able to do whatever.”
Durant played his first official game since rupturing his right Achilles tendon during the 2019 NBA Finals. He wasn’t on a minutes restriction, but coach Steve Nash said he plans to be “thoughtful” about how much to use his new star. Durant wound up playing 25 minutes and sat out the entire fourth quarter as Brooklyn held a commanding lead.
“With KD out there — the way that he looked, he looked all the way healthy, confident in his body, so it was good to see obviously from a health standpoint,” said former teammate Stephen Curry. “That means a lot to come off an injury like that.”
There’s more from Brooklyn this morning:
- Kyrie Irving, who also had a brilliant opener with 26 points in 25 minutes, said he’s ready to move beyond the isolation-heavy style he has used in the past, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “It’s been a long journey to get here and to be able to master this craft and to learn that it’s not just about ‘hero’ basketball. It’s about how great the team is,” Irving said. “I got caught up in that in my career a few times, just trying to play ‘hero’ basketball, where the team success is really going to dictate how great you are as an individual and how great you play a role.”
- Tuesday’s game offered a hint of how the Nets’ new rotation will look, Lewis adds in the same story. Caris LeVert handled the ball frequently with the second unit, while new addition Jeff Green subbed for Durant at power forward in the second quarter, then was used later as a stretch five with the starters.
- The expansion of rosters in response to the pandemic allowed Nash to set a record in his debut as a head coach, notes Alex Schiffer of The Athletic. Nash became the first coach to use 15 players in a game.
Durant Unfazed By Facing Warriors; Nets' Second Unit Looks Set
- Nets forward Kevin Durant will face his old team in Tuesday night’s opener, but doesn’t anticipate added emotions or higher stakes in the game against the Warriors, writes Malika Andrews of ESPN. “I feel like each game is important to me,” Durant said. “And it’s no more important to me because I am playing against my old teammates. I just feel like the game of basketball is going to have me on that level anyway and it’s going to be good to see some of my old teammates.”
- The preseason gave us a preview of what the Nets‘ primary bench unit should look like, according to Mollie Walker of The New York Post, who says the group, led by Caris LeVert, should also feature Jarrett Allen, Taurean Prince, Landry Shamet, and Jeff Green.
Nets Re-Sign Chiozza To Two-Way Contract, Waive Martin
The Nets have made a change to one of their two-way contract slots, announcing today in a press release that they’ve waived Jeremiah Martin and re-signed Chris Chiozza to a two-way deal to replace him.
Chiozza, 25, signed a two-way contract with Brooklyn in January and emerged as a reliable rotation player for the team, averaging 6.4 PPG and 3.1 APG on .425/.357/1.000 shooting in 18 games (15.4 MPG).
The Nets issued Chiozza a qualifying offer in November, making him a restricted free agent. He ended up signing a one-year, minimum-salary contract with Brooklyn, but it was non-guaranteed, which made him expendable on Saturday when the club made its roster cuts.
Although he didn’t make the 15-man squad, Chiozza cleared waivers and is now back on another two-way contract, which will allow him to be active in up to 50 of the Nets’ 72 regular season games this season. He’ll earn $449,155 on the deal, alongside fellow two-way player Reggie Perry.
Martin, meanwhile, will become a free agent on Thursday if he goes unclaimed on waivers. The former University of Memphis point guard, who signed a two-year, two-way contract with the Nets in January appeared in nine games as a rookie in 2019/20, averaging 7.1 PPG and 2.0 APG in 11.0 MPG. He also averaged 17.7 PPG and 4.5 APG in 37 G League games (30.4 MPG) for Long Island and Sioux Falls.
Nets Fail To Reach Extension Deal With Allen
The Nets and center Jarrett Allen were unable to reach a rookie scale contract extension, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets. Allen will thus become a restricted free agent at the end of this season.
Allen’s qualifying offer next offseason, which would allow the Nets to match any offer sheet, is $5,661,538.
Allen, who will make approximately $3.9MM this season, has established himself as one of the top young centers in the league. He has started regularly the past two seasons after being a part-time starter as a rookie.
Last season, he averaged 11.1 PPG, 9.6 RPG and 1.3 BPG in 70 regular-season games, including 64 starts.
The Nets are projected to be a taxpaying team this season and next year and added to the payroll this offseason by re-signing Joe Harris to a four-year contract. They also picked up their option for the 2021/22 season on young guard Landry Shamet. Giving Allen an extension would have significantly increased their tax bill for next season.
Allen would be an attractive trade piece if Brooklyn went in that direction as part of a package for another superstar such as James Harden.
Nets Exercise 2021/22 Option On Landry Shamet
The Nets have exercise the fourth-year option on Landry Shamet‘s rookie contract, the club announced today (via Twitter). The move locks in Shamet’s $3.77MM salary for the 2021/22 season.
Shamet, 23, has averaged 9.2 PPG on .420/.402/.828 shooting in his first two NBA seasons with the Sixers and Clippers. He was dealt from Los Angeles to Brooklyn in a three-team trade last month — the Nets also acquired Bruce Brown in that deal, sending Dzanan Musa and the No. 19 pick to Detroit.
Shamet will now become eligible for a rookie scale extension during the 2021 offseason. If he doesn’t sign a new deal at that point, he’d be on track to reach restricted free agency in the summer of 2022.
We’re keeping tabs on all the 2021/22 rookie scale team option decisions right here.