MVP Announcement Nears; So Does Curry's Return
The announcement of the MVP award will take place in the next few days, sources told Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The sources confirmed the obvious, telling Stein that Stephen Curry was the voters’ choice, but it remains to be seen if he’ll become the first unanimous MVP winner. It’s also unknown whether Curry will be recovered from his sprained right MCL in time to play in Game 4 tonight in Portland. Warriors coach Steve Kerr on Sunday deemed the point guard doubtful, nonetheless adding that Curry will take part in the team’s shootaround today, as Diamond Leung of The Bay Area News Group relays.
- Rumors have linked the Warriors to Kevin Durant for months, but it would take a significant roster overhaul to fit a max contract for Durant onto Golden State’s payroll, and Andrew Bogut, one of those whom the team might have to give up to get the former MVP, believes the front office should think twice before disrupting team chemistry. Tim Kawakami of The Bay Area News Group relays that and more from their interview. “Yeah. Look, you hear certain rumors about certain guys in the offseason. It’s unfortunately not up to us; it’s up to management and the owners,” Bogut said. “But for a franchise that hasn’t had a lot of success, to all of a sudden have a lot of success and then try to, you know, break the atom, it can go both ways, and I’ve seen that. It’ll be interesting to see what they do. Sometimes you don’t want to tinker with things that are going well because, as you know, it can go both ways. Sometimes you can get a guy, hey, this can put us over the top. But we feel like we’re at that point. It’s interesting. But there’s a lot of ego that goes into getting certain guys here and some teams want big names. Not just us. Even with good chemistry and a good program, some teams want that big superstar name to draw.”
Thunder Notes: Durant, Free Agency, Adams
Kevin Durant, who is expected to be the most sought-after name on this summer’s free agent market, respects David West for passing up millions to pursue an NBA title, relays Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. West declined a $12.6MM option with the Pacers last year and signed with the Spurs for the $1.5MM veteran’s minimum. The move raised eyebrows around the league, but Durant found it admirable. “Money isn’t everything in this life,” Durant said. “I know we tend to think about taking care of your family and being financially stable, but from the outside looking in, it looked like he said, ‘I’ve been blessed enough to make X amount of dollars, and I want to be happy chasing something that is the grand prize in this league.’”
There’s more news from Oklahoma City:
- The Thunder are the favorites to keep Durant, but their chances would decline if they can’t get past the Spurs, writes Mark Heisler of The Los Angeles Daily News. That largely falls in with a Friday report from Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Heisler expects Durant to sign a one-year deal with Oklahoma City or possibly a two-year pact with an opt-out clause for next summer. That will enable him to earn about $40MM more and time his free agency with Russell Westbrook‘s. “I think he’s going to test the water,” said former Thunder teammate and current Connecticut coach Kevin Ollie, “but at the end of the day, Oklahoma City is something dear to his heart.” In order, Heisler lists the Spurs, Warriors, Wizards, Clippers, Knicks and Lakers as the top contenders if Durant does decide to leave OKC.
- Because he was drafted with a pick the Thunder received in the James Harden trade, Steven Adams has been dealing with huge expectations from the start of his NBA career, according to Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. Adams averaged 8.0 points and 6.7 rebounds per game this year while splitting time at center with Enes Kanter. Before the start of last season, Oklahoma City picked up Adams’ $3,140,517 option for 2016/17. “He’s not easily impressed, he doesn’t take things too seriously,” said teammate Nick Collison. “I think that’s the culture from his background. He’s all about, ‘Get over yourself.’ He didn’t grow up with the dream to play in the NBA, and it shows.”
2015/16 D-League Usage Report: Warriors
The NBA’s relationship with the D-League continues to grow, and this season a total of 19 NBA teams had one-to-one affiliations with D-League clubs. Those NBA organizations without their own affiliates were required to assign players to D-League clubs associated with other NBA franchises. D-League teams could volunteer to take on the assigned players, and if no volunteers emerged, the players were assigned at random.
This significant change from the 2014/15 season came about after the Pacers purchased the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and turned them into their one-to-one partner for the 2015/16 campaign. Other NBA teams have interest in following suit in the years ahead, and the NBA’s ultimate goal for the D-League is for all 30 NBA franchises to have their own D-League squads. You can view the complete list of D-League affiliates here.
We at Hoops Rumors are recapping the D-League-related activity from the 2015/16 campaign for each team, and we’ll continue with the Golden State Warriors, whose D-League affiliate is the Santa Cruz Warriors:
The Warriors made four assignments for the 2015/16 campaign, sending one player to the D-League for a total of 35 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Golden State for the season:
- January 4th: Assigned Kevon Looney (1st) — Recalled January 24th
- January 28th: Assigned Kevon Looney (2nd) — Recalled February 2nd
- March 2nd: Assigned Kevon Looney (3rd) — Recalled March 7th
- March 12th: Assigned Kevon Looney (4th) — Recalled March 14th
Santa Cruz also had three players assigned to it from other NBA franchises via the flexible assignment rule:
- The Bulls sent Mike Dunleavy (one assignment, two days).
- The Blazers sent Cliff Alexander (one assignment, 10 days) and Luis Montero (one assignment, 10 days).
Here is how Looney performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:
- Kevon Looney: In 12 D-League appearances, the combo forward averaged 9.8 points, 7.4 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in 19.1 minutes per outing. His shooting line was .396/.310/.714.
Latest On Kevin Durant
The theory among the teams eager to pursue Kevin Durant this summer is that the Thunder’s second-round series against the Spurs will decide whether he leaves Oklahoma City, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Durant would stay if the Thunder win and leave if they lose, Stein relays, stressing that it’s merely an assumption among the front offices. The Spurs, with the series tied 1-1, indeed have designs on luring Durant to San Antonio, Stein hears, echoing what several rival executives suggested to Chris Mannix of The Vertical in March.
Zach Lowe of ESPN.com recently compared the talk about Durant joining the Spurs as “eerily similar” to the early rumblings that connected LaMarcus Aldridge to San Antonio last year. Still, the Warriors loom as another powerful suitor, and The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported in February at that they would be significant front-runners for Durant if he were to leave the Thunder. Golden State is optimistic about its chances, and chatter has gone on since the Warriors’ record 24-0 start about the kinship Durant formed on Team USA with Stephen Curry and Andre Iguodala, Stein writes. The Wizards, Heat, Celtics, Rockets, Lakers and Clippers are planning hard pushes for Durant, too, according to Stein, who cautions that it’s premature to peg any team aside from the Thunder as the favorite to land him.
Neither the Warriors nor the Spurs have the cap flexibility to sign Durant for his max of an estimated $26MM for next season without making trades, waiving players via the stretch provision, or both. The Vertical’s Bobby Marks illustrated a scenario involving maneuvers that would give the Warriors enough room to sign Durant, and Danny Leroux of The Sporting News laid out San Antonio’s path. The Clippers would have to offload either Chris Paul, Blake Griffin or DeAndre Jordan, as I noted in our offseason outlook for the team earlier today.
The teams who assume Durant will stay with the Thunder if Oklahoma City advances to the next round of the playoffs suggest he’d go for a two-year contract with a player option on year two, the same sort of contract LeBron James favors, according to Stein. That would allow Durant the flexibility for him to hit free agency again next summer, when Russell Westbrook‘s contract expires, and it would represent the most lucrative path for the former MVP, as I examined. Still, Durant told Stein at the All-Star break that he hadn’t considered such a contract structure.
Barnes Doesn't Take Durant Talk Personally
Despite the reports that the Warriors are planning to make a run at Kevin Durant this offseason, Harrison Barnes, who is set to become a restricted free agent, said during a podcast appearance opposite Tim Kawakami of The Bay Area News Group that he doesn’t take such chatter personally. When asked if he has accepted that Golden State may try to sign Durant this summer, Barnes noted it wasn’t the first time he’s dealt with rumors. “For sure. It was after my first year, was that when Dwight Howard was thinking about leaving? So it was funny, Andrew Bogut texted me and asked me, are we going to L.A.? Because he was going to come here,” Barnes said. We joked about that. And last summer it was [the] Kevin Love thing, is he going to come here? So me and David Lee were joking about the fact that we might have to buy winter coats.”
Lakers Likely To Target Festus Ezeli
The Lakers will have interest in signing Festus Ezeli this summer, reports Sean Deveney of The Sporting News, citing a source. Still, Ezeli prefers to re-sign with the Warriors, believing he’ll inherit a job in the starting lineup once Andrew Bogut‘s contract expires after next season, a source indicated to Deveney. Golden State has the ability to match all offers for him as a restricted free agent, though several league executives suggested it’ll take a three-year, $50MM deal for any team to secure the 26-year-old center.
It’s nonetheless unlikely Ezeli ends up with a four or five-year deal, Deveney writes, pointing to his history of injuries. The 6’11” former Vanderbilt player has only appeared in 170 regular season games since becoming the 30th overall pick in the 2012 draft. A left knee surgery helped limit him to 46 regular season appearances this year. Still, he’s impressed when he’s made it onto the court, and his performance in Tuesday’s playoff game was vital to Golden State’s win over Portland.
Agent Bill Duffy reportedly talked Ezeli out of signing what would have been a team-friendly extension with the Warriors this past fall, but the center said shortly after extension discussions broke down that he wants to remain with Golden State for his entire career. Warriors assistant GM Kirk Lacob, the son of co-owner Joe Lacob, suggested in January that the team would be willing to pay whatever’s necessary to retain Ezeli and fellow soon-to-be restricted free agent Harrison Barnes this summer.
Still, the Warriors, like the Lakers and just about every NBA team, have aspirations of signing Kevin Durant, and it may well be necessary for the team to let go of Ezeli and Barnes to create enough cap room for the former MVP, given that the Warriors already have more than $73MM in guaranteed salary against a projected $92MM salary cap. Durant is in line for an estimated max of about $26MM for next season.
The Lakers have much greater flexibility with only $23MM in guaranteed salary. They’ll have an opening at starting center with Roy Hibbert headed into free agency.
Where do you think Ezeli will play next season? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.
Warriors Receiving Solid Contributions From Ezeli, Clark
Lakers executive Jim Buss was effusive in his praise for the work Luke Walton did while coaching the Warriors in Steve Kerr‘s absence this season, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders relays. “He was thrust into a situation. People might say, ‘Anyone could coach Golden State with their roster.’ No you couldn’t have,” Buss told Pincus. “There’s a lot of pressure in that. There’s a lot of preparation for that.”
- The contributions from Festus Ezeli, in particular, and Ian Clark were vital for the Warriors in their Game 2 victory over Portland on Tuesday, observes Tim Kawakami of the Bay Area News Group. Both are poised for restricted free agency this summer.
Seth Curry Doesn't Want To Play With Stephen Curry
- Curry also told Khanna that he doesn’t want to sign with the Warriors and play with brother Stephen Curry, preferring to compete against him instead. The Currys were teammates with Golden State during the 2013 preseason.
[SOURCE LINK]
Kerr Surprised Walton Hired So Quickly
- Warriors coach Steve Kerr said “it was just a matter of time” until assistant Luke Walton found a head coaching job, relays Tim Kawakami of The Bay Area News Group. Kerr said he knew Walton interviewed with the Lakers on Thursday, but he expected the hiring process to take longer than it did. “When we put our staff together last year, I kind of figured [Pelicans coach] Alvin [Gentry] would be gone pretty quickly,” Kerr said. “I didn’t think Luke would be gone this fast. So ‘disappointed’ is not the right word, because I’m thrilled for him. Sad is probably the more appropriate term. He’s a huge part of our culture and so much fun to be around.”
Warriors To Reach Outside Organization For Walton's Replacement
The Warriors plan to hire the replacement for assistant coach Luke Walton from outside the organization, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Stein notes that former Cavaliers coach David Blatt came close to joining Steve Kerr on Golden State’s bench in 2014 but adds that Blatt may not be willing to become an assistant now as he waits for his next head coaching job (Twitter link). The Warriors say they won’t look at candidates to take Walton’s place until they are finished with the playoffs (Twitter link).
- Walton and Alvin Gentry, who left after last season to coach the Pelicans, could be the first of many Warriors assistants to land head coaching jobs, speculates Ethan Sherwood Strauss of ESPN.com. Jarron Collins, another highly regarded Golden State assistant, could be next, and Strauss believes Chris DeMarco, Nick U’Ren and Theo Robertson may eventually follow. Kerr is a fan of all three, and their responsibilities in the organization are growing.