Raptors, Knicks Working On Kyle Lowry Trade
2:47pm: The Raptors are sticking to their asking price of a quality young player or a first-round pick in return for Lowry, notes Chris Mannix of SI.com, tweeting that negotiations could take a while. Lowry has plenty of interest in playing for the Knicks, but Felton’s injury doesn’t help the chances of the Knicks landing Toronto’s point guard, reports Marc Berman of the New York Post, who says several teams including the Raptors have inquired about Hardaway.
1:56pm: The chances that Shumpert is part the deal are slim, according to Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck, who says the Raptors aren’t high on him and the Knicks prefer to keep him for now (on Twitter).
1:39pm: Shumpert’s name has come up in discussions between the Raptors and Knicks, tweets Ian Begley of ESPNNewYork.com. In his piece on rumors around the league, Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report wrote that Shumpert, along with Felton, would “most likely” be part of a deal for Lowry.
1:04pm: Isola can’t envision Hardaway being part of the deal, citing owner James Dolan’s affection for the rookie (Twitter link).
12:53pm: The Nets and Warriors are also interested in Lowry, according to Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, while Stein says the Knicks may be forced to put Tim Hardaway Jr. into the deal (Twitter links).
12:47pm: The Raptors are trying to elicit more offers for Lowry, and that’s why they’re leaking the news of their talks with the Knicks, tweets Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun.
12:38pm: Kyle Lowry has been mentioned prominently among Raptors who could be on the move as GM Masai Ujiri aggressively reshapes the team, and he’s at the center of trade talks between Toronto and the Knicks, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The trade would likely feature Raymond Felton and at least one other Knick heading north of the border unless a third team jumps in, Stein also notes (on Twitter).
The Knicks had interest in trading with the Nuggets for Andre Miller, but they’ve shifted their focus to Lowry, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter link). The Raptors are looking for a first-round pick in the deal, Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck notes (via Twitter), but the earliest first-rounder the Knicks can deal away is their 2018 pick.
Lowry is among nine Raptors with an expiring contract, as I examined earlier today, and his $6.21MM salary might make him an attractive target for teams looking for a starting point guard. The Knicks will miss Felton for the next two to three weeks as he recovers from a strained hamstring, as Newsday’s Al Iannazzone tweets. While that’s certainly not a long-term absence, New York may feel as though a quick fix is necessary to avoid falling further behind in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks are 6-15, but that’s just two and a half games out of a playoff spot, given the struggles of so many Eastern teams this year.
The teams hooked up on the Andrea Bargnani trade over the summer, though that happened while former Knicks GM Glen Grunwald was still in charge in New York. New Knicks GM Steve Mills has yet to make a major move since taking over shortly before the season.
A one-for-one swap of Lowry and Felton, who’s making about $3.6MM, wouldn’t work under salary-matching rules. The Knicks would have to include about $1.5MM more in outgoing salary. They could accomplish that by throwing Iman Shumpert into the deal, and while Shumpert has been at the centerpiece of most of the trade chatter involving the Knicks this year, it’s not clear whether he’s a part of these talks.
Zwerling On Randolph, Anderson, Gordon
The latest dispatch from Bleacher Report’s Jared Zwerling is chock full of rumors. Let’s dive in:
- The Grizzlies are shopping Zach Randolph, with Ryan Anderson of the Pelicans as the primary target, Zwerling reports. Memphis wants to see Ed Davis continue to develop, and that may help push Randolph out the door. The Pelicans would have to add salary to such a deal to make it work, and Zwerling mentions Austin Rivers as a possibility, noting that he’s dissatisfied with his lack of playing time and is open to a trade.
- A source tells Zwerling that he believes the Pelicans will trade Eric Gordon at some point this season.
- Zwerling hears conflicting reports on whether a rumored Kenneth Faried/Iman Shumpert swap is a possibility for the Nuggets and Knicks, but he says the Knicks are currently reluctant to move Shumpert.
- It’s unlikely the Suns trade either Marcus Morris or twin brother Markieff Morris, according to Zwerling.
- The Sixers would trade Evan Turner for Dion Waiters “in a heartbeat,” a source tells Zwerling, though Cavs owner Dan Gilbert reportedly doesn’t want to trade his shooting guard. The Sixers are worried about what Turner may command in restricted free agency this summer. The Suns could be another landing spot for Waiters, Zwerling writes.
- Courtney Lee, Gerald Wallace and Kris Humphries are on the market in Boston. The Celtics offered Avery Bradley a four-year, $24MM extension this fall, but the guard turned it down, looking for a deal with annual salaries of $8MM.
- The Rockets “adore” D-Leaguer Troy Daniels, Zwerling writes. Daniels is displaying a three-point stroke to go with his 25.1 points per game.
Odds & Ends: Collins, Augustin, Mavs, Cavs
Jannero Pargo‘s contract with the Bobcats became fully guaranteed when the team didn’t waive him yesterday, and A.J. Price passed his contract guarantee threshold with the Timberwolves this weekend. That means the rest of the players with non-guaranteed contracts won’t have their deals fully guaranteed unless they remain on their teams until the leaguewide guarantee date of January 10th. We’ll continue to track non-guaranteed contracts here until that date. Here’s more from around the league:
- Free agent center Jason Collins told Michael K. Lavers of the Washington Blade that he doesn’t pin the reluctance of NBA teams to sign him on his sexual orientation. Collins, who hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since publicly revealing last spring that he is homosexual, says he hopes a team will sign him by March 1st.
- The Bulls are zeroing in on D.J. Augustin, and the move would give them four point guards, not including the injured Derrick Rose. They probably won’t be carrying all four by the end of the season, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune.
- With Devin Harris suffering a setback in his rehab, Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News wonders if the Mavericks will go after Augustin.
- The Cavs have assigned Carrick Felix, Sergey Karasev and Henry Sims to their D-League affiliate, the team announced. It’s the first assignment for Karasev, while Felix and Sims are making return trips to the Canton Charge.
- Other teams reportedly expect the Nuggets will soon trade Jordan Hamilton for little in return, but the third-year small forward has earned the trust of coach Brian Shaw, according to Aaron J. Lopez of Nuggets.com.
- Shelvin Mack is making the most of his non-guaranteed contract with the Hawks, as Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution examines (subscription required).
Lowe On Nuggets, Faried, Miller, Hamilton
The Nuggets have won nine of their last 11 and are in line to receive a high 2014 draft pick from the Knicks, as we explained earlier this morning. Still, their 13-8 record would only be enough for the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference, and as the changes after last season’s 57-win campaign demonstrated, playoff success is the only barometer that matters. New GM Tim Connelly tells Grantland’s Zach Lowe he’s prepared for whatever happens this year. “We have the chance to make some noise,” Connelly said. “And if we’re not good enough, we’ve got some alternate plans.”
Lowe has more from Connelly and details what some of those “alternate plans” might be:
- Trade talk involving Kenneth Faried has died down, but executives from other teams expect Denver to trade Andre Miller before the deadline. Still, the Nuggets “adore” him, Lowe writes.
- Rival front offices think the Nuggets are prepared to trade Jordan Hamilton, and they don’t believe Denver will expect much in return.
- Lowe also hears from execs around the league who view the Nuggets roster as one that might benefit from a strip-down, in spite of all the team’s good-but-not-great talent. Denver nonetheless prefers remaining competitive. “I think our owner would have let us do whatever we wanted,” Connelly said. “But a full-scale rebuild is not the be-all, end-all. It’s a four- to five-year process. And coming off a 57-win season, that’s just not something I would have pushed. There are too many good players here. It would be a disservice not to try, and not to try to win big.”
- Connelly isn’t sold on the idea that freeing cap space is a panacea. “We have to be realistic about where we stand in the free agency pecking order,” he said.
Northwest Rumors: Aldridge, Lillard, Hayward
LaMarcus Aldridge spoke to Jim Rome of CBS Sports Radio this week about the trade rumors that surrounded him this summer, chalking it up to passing frustration, as Ben Golliver of Blazer’s Edge notes in his transcript of the most notable passages.
“It was just me being overly emotional at the time,” Aldridge said. “Nobody wants to lose. I’m in my prime right now. At the time, I was a little emotional about not winning or what not. After I had time to talk to (Blazers GM) Neil (Olshey) and the team, I knew they were going to make some moves, bring some guys in.”
Aldridge is eligible to sign an extension, and when Rome asked whether he’d sign one, Aldridge said he’ll deal with the matter in the offseason. His decision will be a key story next summer, and as we await that, there’s more out of the Northwest Division:
- Damian Lillard, the Blazers‘ other linchpin, doesn’t seem at all reticent about his willingness to commit to the team long-term, judging by his comments to Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune. “I love it here,” Lillard said. “Hopefully this is where I’ll always be. I’m not saying that just to be politically correct. I really hope so. My family likes it here. Hopefully it will be a career-long thing for me.”
- Gordon Hayward discusses this year’s steep increase in his on-court responsibilities with USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt. Hayward professes his love for the team and calls himself a “Jazz guy” in response to a question about his upcoming restricted free agency.
- Brian Shaw had been passed over multiple times for head coaching jobs, but before landing his Denver gig this summer he was confident he’d wind up with the Nuggets, Nets or Clippers, tweets Sean Deveney of The Sporting News.
Odds & Ends: Mozgov, Hawks, Garnett, Draft
Timofey Mozgov might be the hottest player in the NBA right now and that can be largely attributed to assistant coach Melvin Hunt, writes Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post. “All the Russian I know can’t be repeated,” Hunt explained, “because when he gets frustrated and says them, I know they’re bad words.” More from around the Association..
- Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer doesn’t expect Dennis Schröder to stay in the D-League for long. “My guess is he’ll be back sooner but we’ll see how it’s going down there and how it’s going up there,” Budenholzer said, according to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (on Twitter). Atlanta assigned the rookie guard earlier today.
- Sean Deveney of the Sporting News attempts to fix the Eastern Conference for all the teams not named the Heat or Pacers. The list, unsurprisingly, starts with the Nets and the struggles of offseason addition Kevin Garnett.
- A few league executives and scouts indicated to Adam Zagoria of SNY (on Twitter) that Glenn Robinson III‘s stock is falling. The Michigan standout is currently slotted to go No. 17 on DraftExpress’ mock draft.
- The Nets and Knicks better hope that they can turn things around this season because they can’t hope to build through the draft, notes Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld. Both NYC teams have mortgaged their futures in an effort to contend in the present.
Odds & Ends: Nets, Shaw, Odom, Hansbrough
Divergent coaching styles and philosophies ultimately prompted Jason Kidd to demote Nets assistant coach Lawrence Frank, tweets Chris Mannix of SI.com, but that doesn’t appear to be the only reason for the move. Frank has been badmouthing Kidd around the league, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, and Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports has additional details on the troubled relationship between the two coaches. Here’s more on the Nets soap opera and the rest of the NBA:
- The Nets maintain their strong support of Kidd, and they still believe he’ll develop into an effective head coach, Mannix writes. Brian Shaw, whom the Nets passed on when they hired Kidd, has “thrilled” Nuggets brass so far, Mannix notes via Twitter.
- Lamar Odom isn’t yet performing basketball drills in workouts, a source tells Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. The earliest he could be ready to play is mid-January, Berger hears. The Clippers appear in no rush to sign him, even with other teams in the mix.
- Tyler Hansbrough wasn’t pleased with his limited role on the Pacers last season, and while he signed with the Raptors hoping to be a more integral part of his team, he never expected to become the starter he is now, as Mike Ganter of the Toronto Sun details.
- A short-term injury to Mike James will force the Bulls to cut Marquis Teague‘s D-League assignment short, reports K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. The Bulls are down to 10 healthy players, but they don’t plan on signing anyone, Johnson says.
- Amid a rough week for the top four college prospects, Kansas center Joel Embiid‘s performance made him a legitimate candidate to become the No. 1 overall pick in June, as Chad Ford of ESPN.com writes in his latest Insider piece on the draft landscape.
Western Rumors: Lakers, Claver, Casspi
The majority of Hoops Rumors readers who voted today think at least one New York team will make the playoffs this season, in spite of a combined 7-24 record for the Knicks and Nets. That might not be the case if those clubs were in the much tougher Western Conference. The Hawks are in third place in the East with a 9-8 record, while the Lakers have the same mark and sit in 10th place in the West. The imbalance figures to soften to some degree as the season wears on, but it’s still troubling for Western teams competing for a postseason berth. Here’s more from the West:
- Wesley Johnson could have signed for more money and years to play with that Atlanta team and its much easier road to the playoffs, and the Bucks also offered a better deal than the Lakers, tweets Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com. Coach Mike D’Antoni‘s system prompted Johnson to instead choose the L.A. and a one-year contract for the minimum salary.
- César Nanclares of TuBasket.com hears that Victor Claver is strongly considering a return to Europe amid disappointment over a reduced role this season with the Blazers (translation via HoopsHype). Nanclares points out the Spanish native’s contract runs through this season and next and that Portland isn’t likely to let him engineer a buyout this season, though the scribe wonders if the Blazers might be willing to cut ties this summer.
- Rockets forward Omri Casspi is leaving agent Steven Heumann of the Creative Artists Agency and will sign with Dan Fegan of Relativity Sports, as Fegan tells Sportando contributor David Pick.
- Former second-round draft pick Chukwudiebere Maduabum has signed with Tin Kalev Tallin of Estonia, Sportando’s Enea Trapani reports. The Nuggets hold the rights to Maduabum, the 56th overall pick in 2011.
Northwest Notes: Nuggets, Aldridge, Rush
Three Northwest teams will host games tonight, including the Thunder welcoming the Warriors to Oklahoma City for a rematch of perhaps the best game of the season’s first month. As we look forward to the evening’s schedule, let’s check in on a few items out of the Northwest….
- The Knicks are in Denver tonight, which will result in the inevitable look back on the 2011 trade that sent Carmelo Anthony to New York. As Chris Dempsey of the Denver Post writes, that deal should continue paying dividends for the Nuggets this season, since Denver could end up with both a playoff berth and a lottery pick, thanks to the Knicks.
- Wilson Chandler, one of the players acquired by the Nuggets in that Carmelo blockbuster, has long since moved on, as he indicates to Dempsey. “It’s just another game,” said Chandler of the Knicks’ visit. “It’s been a long time since that trade.”
- After the Trail Blazers bolstered their roster over the summer, LaMarcus Aldridge decided it was time for him to step up and take a larger leadership role with the club, writes Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.
- Brandon Rush, who was acquired from the Warriors by the Jazz in July, appears ready to return to action, as Steve Luhm of the Salt Lake Tribune observes. Making $4MM in the final year of his contract, Rush could turn into an intriguing deadline trade chip if he stays healthy and plays well for Utah over the next couple months.
Odds & Ends: Gallinari, Rockets, Gortat
Significant injuries dominated Saturday’s NBA headlines, and the Nuggets got a mix of good news and bad about a key player who suffered an ACL injury last spring. Danilo Gallinari won’t be back by the end of this month, as he said he would be in September, and he remains “very far away” from returning to the Nuggets, according to Christopher Dempsey of the Denver Post. Gallinari nonetheless tells Dempsey that he isn’t likely to be out all season. Here’s more from around the Association:
- Continued strong play from Terrence Jones could make the Rockets feel more comfortable with targeting the best player regardless of position in an Omer Asik trade, as Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle observes (on Twitter).
- Marcin Gortat chats with SB Nation’s James Herbert about his adjustment to playing with the Wizards and looks back on his time with coach Stan Van Gundy, whom the center calls the “godfather” of his career. Gortat says he’d like to play for Van Gundy again.
- Even though the Sixers will probably head into next summer armed with a pair of lottery picks and plenty of cap space, fans shouldn’t expect a contending team, according to Tom Moore of the Bucks County Courier Times, who warns that the rebuild will likely take longer than one year.
- Ray Allen criticized David West for prioritizing money over title contention when West spurned the Celtics to sign with the Pacers in 2011. Still, the power forward believed then that the Pacers had the greater long-term championship hopes, as West tells Ben Rohrbach of WEEI.com.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.