The Pelicans sent $1.8MM to the Hornets in order to move up from No. 40 to No. 31 on draft night to select Frank Jackson, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). While that’s a significant price to pay to move up nine spots in the second round, New Orleans recouped some of that money later in the night, according to Pincus, who tweets that the Pelicans got $1MM from the Pacers for the No. 52 overall pick.
News broke Sunday that the Cavaliers, Nuggets and Pacers had discussed a three-way deal that would have sent Paul George to the Cavs and Kevin Love to Denver ahead of the draft. As we wrote about earlie, one variation of the potential deal would have sent Kenneth Faried to Cleveland as well.
In an article published at ESPN shortly thereafter, Marc Stein – who sent the initial tweet Sunday night – goes into more details, sharing information about the pre-draft conversations that took place surrounding the Pacers forward.
Here are some highlights from Stein’s latest piece, co-written with Haynes:
- While the conversations between the Cavaliers, Nuggets and Pacers didn’t amount to anything before the draft, Cleveland haven’t abandoned its pursuit of the two-way All-Star. The Cavs legitimately believe that they could convince George to abandon his dreams of playing for his hometown Lakers, something he is expected to pursue when he hits free agency in 2018.
- In addition to Cleveland’s ongoing pursuit and the Celtics discussions that came to light on draft day, Stein and Haynes note that the Rockets and Spurs both aggressively pursued George deals before the draft as well.
- The Nuggets are looking to upgrade at power forward and it’s the reason why Love was included in the possible three-team deal. Denver similarly intends to make plays for pending free agents Blake Griffin and Paul Millsap.
- All of Faried, Wilson Chandler and Emmanuel Mudiay are said to be available. Big man Nikola Jokic and second-year guard Jamal Murray are supposedly untouchable.
- The pair also confirm what we wrote about on Friday following a Joe Vardon column at Cleveland.com; the Cavs are expected to pursue Carmelo Anthony should he be bought out by the Knicks.
7:32pm: Nothing appears imminent, as the aforementioned Vardon tweet implied, but Stein and Haynes have published an article with more information about what went down and some of the underlying motives. We’ve recapped it here.
7:12pm: An article published by Haynes and Stein over at ESPN specifies that the Cavs, Nuggets and Pacers discussed Love and George leading up to last Thursday’s draft. The Nuggets, the article states, were brought in to supply Indiana with young assets.
Stein and Haynes note that while this particular discussion didn’t end in a deal, the Cavs won’t abandon their pursuit of the Pacers All-Star.
6:48pm: The clubs are said to have had discussions involving Denver on draft night, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com tweets. Vardon also adds that his source said it was “nothing serious”.
6:31pm: The Cavaliers, Pacers and Nuggets are in the midst of trade discussions involving Paul George and Kevin Love, Marc Stein of ESPN tweets. The three clubs have discussed a deal that would land George in Cleveland and Love in Denver.
Per Stein and ESPN’s Chris Haynes, the Cavs have “continued to pursue” George, something they were initially reported to be doing prior to the draft.
In one version of the potential deal, the Cavaliers could land forward Kenneth Faried, Haynes tweets.
News of the ongoing discussion comes after a week of speculation following George’s declaration that he would not be returning to the Pacers when he hits free agency next summer. When he informed Indiana president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard of his intentions, he revealed that he’d like to sign with his hometown Lakers in 2018.
Unless the Lakers make a move for him before then, however, a number of other clubs – including the Cavaliers – will eagerly look to acquire him as a one-year rental, the Celtics being a notable example that has already made an aggressive push to land him.
The Pacers want to make a Paul George deal while they can still get value, but they aren’t interested in taking back Kevin Love from the Cavaliers, according to Terry Pluto of Cleveland.com. Indiana is focused on getting young players and draft picks in return for its star forward, who has announced that he will opt out of his contract next offseason and has expressed a desire to return to his hometown of Los Angeles and play for the Lakers.
The Pacers proposed a deal to the Lakers involving Brandon Ingram, the No. 2 pick in last year’s draft. However, Magic Johnson, L.A.’s president of basketball operations, doesn’t want to part with Ingram, who averaged 9.4 points and 4.0 rebounds in 79 games as a rookie.
Pluto passes on several other tidbits in his latest column:
- The Celtics could have as many as 10 first-rounders over the next three years and seem like a natural facilitator to take on Love and get George to Cleveland in a three-team trade. But an unidentified NBA executive tells Pluto the Celtics also want George and are more likely to deal with the Pacers directly.
- The Bulls weren’t interested in Love either, which is why the Cavaliers had little chance of trading for Jimmy Butler. Chicago has gotten tired of being mediocre and is looking for young talent to start rebuilding around. However, Pluto says most of the league iwas “stunned” that the Bulls couldn’t get more than Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and a swap of first-rounders in return for Butler. The Celtics reportedly offered a better package that included several future draft picks.
- The Cavaliers are still waiting to hear if Chauncey Billups will accept their GM offer. Sources tell Pluto that Billups has been pursuing a GM job for more than a year, so it’s not clear why there’s a delay. Billups has never worked in an NBA front office, Pluto notes, so he would need to hire an experienced executive as an assistant. A top candidate is George David, a former assistant GM with the Pistons who has a background in scouting.
With Jimmy Butler now on board, the Timberwolves’ next step is an upgrade at point guard, tweets Mitch Lawrence of The Sporting News.
Toronto’s Kyle Lowry tops Minnesota’s free agent wish list, according to Lawrence, followed by New Orleans’ Jrue Holiday, Indiana’s Jeff Teague and Utah’s George Hill.
Minnesota has about $20MM in remaining cap room, so more salary would have to be unloaded to offer a max deal. One way to do that, especially if a point guard is being targeted, is to find a taker for incumbent starter Ricky Rubio, who will make $14.25MM next season and $14.8MM in 2018/19.
The Wolves had discussions involving Rubio with the Knicks at last season’s deadline and the Mavericks more recently, but both teams just picked up new point guards in the draft.
Lowry is the most likely of the four to receive maximum money. Coming off three straight All-Star appearances, the 11-year veteran made $12MM with the Raptors this season. Although limited to 60 games by injuries, he averaged a career-high 22.4 points per game.
All four teams have Bird rights on their guards, so they will have the competitive advantage of being able to offer more money and one more season than Minnesota can.
The Pacers have declined their 2017/18 team option on Lavoy Allen‘s contract, Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports tweets. The big man would have otherwise made $4MM this season.
In a report earlier this week, Agness wrote that such a decision was likely, citing the forward’s social media accounts and the general change in direction the franchise has been forced to undergo over the course of a pending Paul George exodus.
With Allen off the books, The Vertical’s Bobby Marks adds, the Pacers could free up as much as $27MM-$30MM so long as they’re also willing to part with Jeff Teague and C.J. Miles.
At one point on Thursday night, the Celtics and Pacers were said to be in “serious” talks regarding Paul George, but those discussions stalled, and the star forward remains in Indiana. Speaking to reporters late on Thursday, Pacers president Kevin Pritchard indicated that his team still has irons in the fire on George, but won’t “make a bad deal” just to move on from the situation (Twitter link via Nate Taylor of The Indianapolis Star).
Pritchard was fairly candid discussing George’s desire to leave the Pacers, referring to the news as a “gut punch” and adding that he intends to acquire players who want to be in Indiana (Twitter links via Taylor). He also still sounds optimistic about getting a deal done at some point, suggesting that he’s “confident” the Pacers will be able to get something for George (Twitter link via Taylor).
Gregg Doyel of The Indianapolis Star is less optimistic than Pritchard, expressing confusion about why George is still on the Pacers’ roster, and arguing that the team has set its rebuilding efforts back a year by dragging the process out this long.
According to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders (Twitter links), the Pacers fielded offers for George all day on Thursday, but never got a proposal that made them seriously consider pulling the trigger. While Indiana is expected to continue discussing George deals in the coming days and weeks, into free agency, Pritchard said on Thursday that the team is prepared to bring the veteran forward to camp if necessary, Kyler notes.
In addition to the Celtics, the Rockets were said to be pursuing a George deal on Thursday.
11:47pm: The Pacers have officially acquired Sumner’s rights in exchange for cash considerations, the team confirmed (via Twitter).
11:03pm: The Pacers purchased the 52nd pick from the Pelicans and used it to take Edmond Sumner of Xavier, tweets Shams Charania of The Vertical.
Sumner is a 6’5″ sophomore point guard who averaged 15.0 points and 5.0 assists in 21 games this season. He suffered a torn ACL in his left knee in January and missed the rest of the season.
8:07pm: Discussions between the Pacers and Celtics on George have stalled for now, according to Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
7:06pm: The Pacers and Celtics are engaged in “serious” discussions about a potential Paul George trade, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter link). While the sides remain apart on a potential deal, talks have gained momentum, per Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
The Celtics used their third overall pick tonight to select Jayson Tatum. If the Pacers and C’s can come to an agreement on a George deal, it’s not clear whether or not Tatum will be involved in the swap.
George is one of the top trade candidates available now that Jimmy Butler is now off the board, with the Bulls having reached an agreement to send him to the Timberwolves. Before finalizing that deal, the Pacers and Wolves discussed a deal involving George, tweets Darren Wolfson of ESPN 1500 in Minneapolis. The Pacers asked for Zach LaVine and more in return, which Minnesota refused, opting for Butler instead.
The Rockets also haven’t given up their pursuit of George, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. I’d expect the Lakers to check back in as well if a deal appears close.
Arthur Hill contributed to this post.
The Lakers are widely expected to take Lonzo Ball with the No. 2 pick after trading D’Angelo Russell on Tuesday, but Ball tells Adam Zagoria of FanRag Sports that he hasn’t received a guarantee from the team. Ball worked out twice for L.A., with the second time reportedly at the request of the Lakers after a disappointing showing in the first session. “I think they were both fine,” he said. L.A. is still giving “real consideration” to Kentucky point guard De’Aaron Fox, tweets Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders.
There’s more news as teams lock in their draft strategies:
- French point guard Frank Ntilikina held a last-minute workout for the Knicks this morning, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. Sources tell Berman that the Mavericks, who are also in the market for a point guard, talked to the Timberwolves about trading up from the ninth pick to the seventh to have a shot at Ntilikina, but talks collapsed because of Minnesota’s high asking price. The Wolves would prefer to use that pick as part of a package to get Jimmy Butler from the Bulls. Today’s workout was conducted by former Knicks player developmental coach Chris Brickley, who tutored Ntilikina last summer.
- If the Bulls do move Butler, they will likely target Fox or Josh Jackson, tweets K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune.
- The Celtics are also interested in the seventh pick and have spoken to the Wolves about a possible deal, tweets Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders. Boston may want an extra draft choice to sweeten its offer to the Knicks for Kristaps Porzingis.
- Responding to Damian Lillard‘s request for a better supporting cast, the Trail Blazers are trying to acquire a lottery pick, tweets Mitch Lawrence of The Sporting News. Portland’s priority in any deal is getting rid of a bad contract, according to Jordan Schultz of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The Blazers made an offer for Paul George, but it “doesn’t move the needle” for the Pacers, relays Jason Quick of CSNNW (Twitter link).
- The Raptors, who hold the No. 23 pick, are gauging interest around the league and are willing to trade down, according to Scotto (Twitter link).
- The Nuggets, who have the 13th selection, are another team that may try to move down, tweets Jonathan Givony of Draft Express. He notes that Denver has a history of making draft-night trades.
- Several teams have expressed an interest in moving into the late part of the lottery, according to Givony (Twitter link). He lists the Lakers, Hawks, Nets, Bucks, Trail Blazers and Rockets as teams that might try to acquire a pick in the 10-14 range.