Suns Working On Buyout With Tyson Chandler
5:24pm: Chandler’s frustrations with the Suns have been growing over the years, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link). He was angry about losing and being shut down early, playing just 47 and 46 games the past two seasons. Before zeroing in on the Lakers, Chandler had also expressed interest in joining the Wizards, Warriors or Rockets.
4:52pm: The Suns are negotiating a buyout with 36-year-old center Tyson Chandler, tweets Marc Stein of The New York Times, and the Lakers are his likely destination once he clears waivers (Twitter link).
After being used primarily as a starter since coming to Phoenix in 2015, Chandler has slipped into a reserve role this season behind No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton. He has averaged 12.7 minutes per night in seven games and doesn’t fit in with the Suns’ youth movement. Chandler is making $13.6MM in the final season of a four-year, $52MM contract.
He could become a defensive anchor for the Lakers, who don’t have much depth at center behind starter JaVale McGee. Chandler is a native of Los Angeles, Stein notes, and his salary will likely discourage any other team from making a waiver claim.
He and the Suns have had a standing buyout agreement in place for a while, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Chandler wanted to be sure another team would pick him up before finalizing the deal, and he found a taker in L.A. It explains why the Lakers didn’t make a stronger effort during the offseason to sign another center, adds ESPN’s Zach Lowe (Twitter link).
Celtics, Lakers, Others Monitoring Anthony Davis
Although Anthony Davis remains under contract with the Pelicans through at least 2020, rival NBA executives believe he could be up for grabs for a larger-market team before then, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
Davis will be eligible for a five-year, super-max contract extension as of July 2019. If he passes on that extension – which some executives believe he might, per Haynes – the Pelicans could be forced to consider the possibility of trading the star big man before he gets the opportunity to opt out in 2020.
The Celtics, Lakers, Clippers, Knicks, and Warriors are among the big-market teams that will be monitoring Davis’ situation this year and next, sources tell Haynes.
Whenever he has been asked about his future, Davis has dismissed the idea that he wants to play anywhere but New Orleans. However, as Haynes notes, Davis’ top priority is to win, so the Pelicans will be under pressure to continue building a roster that can help the former first overall pick achieve that goal.
[RELATED: Anthony Davis Hopeful DeMarcus Cousins Can Return To Pelicans]
“Of course, I know that in order to win games, a lot of pressure is going to be on me,” Davis said after a loss to the Warriors this week. “I don’t have a good game and we lose. So, I got to play almost perfect every night to give us a chance to win.
“But my teammates do a great job,” he continued. “Even the games I didn’t play, those guys have been battling night in and night out to get victories. … I don’t try to put too much pressure on myself, but I know it’s there.
While the speculation about Davis isn’t expected to subside, the five-time All-Star knows it comes with the territory, suggesting he’s tuning out the noise and focusing on what he can control on the court. He also tells Haynes that his teammates, who “do as much as possible to help me,” don’t view his contract situation as a distraction.
“Nah, my team doesn’t care. They cherish the moments that they have with me,” Davis said. “Every day we try to put in the work to be a great team. They hear it, I hear it. Everybody hears it. It’s hard not to. But we’re focused on what we have to do this year. We’re trying to beat teams like the Warriors and get to where they are. That’s our goal. That’s it.”
Anthony Davis Hopeful DeMarcus Cousins Can Return To Pelicans
DeMarcus Cousins didn’t re-sign with the Pelicans when he reached free agency four months ago, but Anthony Davis remains hopeful that his old frontcourt partner will return to New Orleans at some point down the road, he said on Thursday.
“He will be a free agent next year,” Davis said of Cousins, per Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. “Hopefully, down the line we can reconnect.”
As Warriors coach Steve Kerr admitted this week, Cousins’ one-year deal with Golden State seems unlikely to lead to a longer-term arrangement, given the team’s cap limitations. However, the Pelicans would face challenges of their own if they want to bring back Cousins. New Orleans could theoretically create enough cap room to make an offer to the big man during 2019’s free agent period, but that would probably mean allowing both Julius Randle and Nikola Mirotic to depart, unless Cousins is willing to take another discount.
There may be other roadblocks in the way of a reunion between the Pelicans and Cousins, who was bothered by having not received a formal offer from GM Dell Demps this past July. That relationship is in need of repair, sources tell ESPN. Still, Demps told Spears that he’s rooting for Cousins, while head coach Alvin Gentry referred to the ex-Pelican as “the best player at his position in the league.”
Of course, if Cousins were to consider returning to New Orleans, he’d certainly want assurances that Davis would be sticking around as well. The Pelicans’ All-NBA big man is under contract through 2019/20 and sounds committed to staying with the team at least through that season, if not longer.
“I got two years to ’20/21. I’m here and whatever happens after that happens,” Davis told Spears. “For me, right now it is about being the most dominant player in the league and helping this team win. … You hear all the rumors. You hear all the talk. But it’s not coming from me. I’m here to be a Pelican, help this team move forward and help this team win a championship.”
Option Decision On Jones Was Easy; Livingston Has Precautionary MRI On Foot
- Exercising the 2019/20 option in Damian Jones‘ contract was an easy decision for the Warriors, Monte Poole of NBC Sports writes. Jones’ $2.3MM salary for next season is a team-friendly deal when considering his level of play at starting center this year.
- Shaun Livingston underwent an MRI on his foot this week after dealing with soreness, Mark Medina of The Mercury News tweets. The MRI returned clean, and the Warriors plan to be cautious with his injury. Livingston is listed as doubtful for Friday’s game against the Timberwolves.
Atlantic Notes: Leonard, Celtics, Splitter, Korkmaz
The Raptors are taking a long view on Kawhi Leonard, ensuring that he remains in good health throughout the rest of the season, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports writes. The team rested Leonard against the undefeated Bucks on Monday, the first half of a back-to-back set against Milwaukee and Philadelphia.
Leonard missed most of last season with a quad injury and has spent this season regaining his stamina, working to get back into a consistent game shape. He’s averaged 27.3 PPG, 7.8 RPG and 3.2 APG so far on the year.
“It feels good, [I] just don’t want to overdo it too early since I missed out on a year,” Leonard said about his quad. “It’s just injury prevention, so [I’m] just not playing back-to-backs for right now.”
When healthy, Leonard is a top-tier defender who’s improved vastly on the offensive end. The Raptors acquired him in a trade with the Spurs this past offseason, labeling him as a player who could lead the team to a deep playoff run.
Toronto is scheduled for 12 back-to-backs on the season. It’s unclear how long Leonard will rest for these sets, with the 27-year-old in his eighth NBA season.
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Several Warriors players have labeled the Celtics as the biggest threat in their quest to a three-peat this season, according to The Athletic’s Sam Amick. Players such as Kevin Durant and Draymond Green recognized the strengths of Boston, including the team’s ability to switch on defense and their depth off the bench.
- Former NBA center Tiago Splitter has spent this season with the Nets sharing coaching and scouting duties. “Our goal this year is to improve last year’s result when we had 28 wins,” Splitter said, according to Nets Daily. “We want to do more than that, but we also think about the long run.” Splitter retired last February and joined the Nets in a dual role shortly after.
- Derek Bodner of The Athletic examines the Sixers‘ decision to decline the third-year option in Furkan Korkmaz‘s contract. Philadelphia will have an extra $2MM in cap space next summer as a result, and Korkmaz will reach free agency on July 1.
Kerr Acknowledges Cousins Likely One-And-Done With Warriors
When DeMarcus Cousins reached an agreement on a one-year deal with the Warriors this past July, both sides were crystal clear on the plan ahead: Sign a contract, bring the four-time NBA All-Star to a world-class team, and work to get that former All-Star his first ever championship.
Cousins’ contract pays him just $5.3MM this season and is set to expire in free agency on July 1. The Warriors recognize they likely won’t be able to retain him after the season due to financial commitments to Stephen Curry ($40MM), Draymond Green ($18.5MM) and impending free agents Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, who could stay in Golden State on lucrative deals.
Golden State will have just the taxpayer MLE and Cousins’ Non-Bird rights available to offer him a new deal, making it very unlikely they bring him back on a substantial raise unless at least one or two other key players leave.
“We made no bones about it when we signed him,” coach Steve Kerr said, according to Logan Murdock of The Mercury News (Twitter link). “This is a one-year deal and we’re not going to have money to sign him next year so we’d like to help him win a championship and sign a great contract somewhere else. That’s the reality.”
Cousins, who ruptured his Achilles tendon in January, has missed the Warriors’ first two weeks of the season. He was cleared to participate in 5-on-5 scrimmages this week, a positive next step in his long rehab, according to Monte Poole of NBCS Authentic (Twitter link).
Cousins, 28, averaged 25.2 points and 12.9 rebounds in 48 games with the Pelicans last season. A dominant force who’s played eight NBA seasons, he will register interest from several teams as a free agent next summer provided he stays healthy.
The Warriors are off to a red-hot start during the 2018/19 season, winning eight of their nine games and remaining undefeated at home. Cousins is expected to replace Damian Jones in the starting lineup once he returns.
Knicks Notes: Fizdale, Knox, O’Quinn, Durant
David Fizdale enjoyed working as a television commentator and might have stayed in that role longer if not for the opportunity with the Knicks, writes Ian Begley of ESPN. Fizdale called TV work a “comfortable” job without “the stress of coaching,” but he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try to build a winner in New York. He had interviews with several teams and turned down a four-year offer from the Suns to take the Knicks’ job.
Fizdale led the Grizzlies to the playoffs in his first year as a head coach, but injuries slowed the team last season and he was fired after 17 games in the midst of a well-publicized clash with Marc Gasol. That led to his job as an ESPN analyst.
“I went in there just force-feeding culture down everyone’s throat,” Fizdale said of his time in Memphis. “I had a small window, I felt, with those guys. So I really tried to fast-track everything. And there’s just some things you can’t rush. You can’t rush relationships, you can’t rush trust, you can’t rush the culture.”
There’s more out of New York:
- The Knicks are hoping to get injured rookie Kevin Knox back in the lineup soon, possibly by Friday, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. Knox suffered a sprained ankle in the third game of the season, and his father says he could be ready to return sometime between Friday and November 10. A tweet from the Knicks yesterday relays that Knox is making “good progress” and has “advanced to participating in shooting drills and non-contact court activity.”
- Former Knicks center Kyle O’Quinn tells Berman it wasn’t an easy decision to leave New York and sign with the Pacers over the summer (Twitter link). “It’s the biggest decision I’ve ever made as far as making a choice in my career,” O’Quinn said. “I slept on it, prayed on it. I made the decision and I’m sticking with it. It’s no secret I would’ve loved to play for Fizdale or be here. It’s tougher than telling a girl you’re moving on.’’
- The close relationship between Knicks assistant coach Royal Ivey and Warriors star Kevin Durant may give New York an edge in free agency next summer, Berman suggests in another story. They both went to college at Texas and Durant is the godfather of Ivey’s daughter.
Warriors Pick Up Damian Jones’ 2019/20 Option
1:26pm: The Warriors have officially exercised Jones’ fourth-year option, the team confirmed today in a press release.
10:01am: The Warriors anticipate picking up their fourth-year team option on center Damian Jones, a league source tells Mark Medina of The Bay Area News Group. The team has until Wednesday’s deadline to make the move official.
Exercising Jones’ option would add $2,305,057 in guaranteed money to Golden State’s books for 2019/20. While that’s not a huge cap charge, it will likely be about $700K higher than the cap hit for a veteran’s minimum salary. That difference would increase the projected tax bill for a Warriors team that will be way over the luxury tax threshold if Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson return.
Still, it should be a worthwhile investment for the Warriors, who turned down Kevon Looney‘s rookie scale option a year ago and then watched him outperform his contract during the 2017/18 season. The Dubs were fortunate to retain Looney anyway, but they apparently don’t want to roll the dice again with Jones, who is off to a solid start in 2018/19. In eight games (all starts), the 23-year-old has averaged 6.0 PPG, 2.4 RPG, and 1.4 BPG with a league-high .778 FG%.
We’re tracking all of the 2019/20 rookie scale option decisions right here.
Cousins Apologizes To Kerr For Ejection
- Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins apologized to coach Steve Kerr for getting ejected from the bench during the team’s game against the Knicks on Friday, Nick Friedell of ESPN relays. Cousins, who is still rehabbing from his Achilles injury he suffered last season, got tossed for trash talking to Knicks center Enes Kanter. “That kind of stuff is not going to help us win a championship, it’s not going to help his reputation, and I think he understands that,” Kerr said. “And I think he immediately regretted what happened, so I really appreciated him coming to me and making that pretty clear, and I don’t expect it to happen again.”
How Jordan Bell Plans To Work Himself Back In Warriors' Rotation
- The Mercury News’ Logan Murdock details how Jordan Bell plans to work himself back into the Warriors’ rotation. The 23-year-old has seen limited time behind starting center Damian Jones in the team’s first six games. “It felt good to be out there,” Bell said. “It sucks when you’re watching the team do damage and you know you can help. But you got to understand how to be a pro and just realize some matchups aren’t right.”