Clippers Shopping Matt Barnes, No. 28 Pick
6:15pm: The Grizzlies have rebuffed the Clippers’ attempts to trade for Allen, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com.
5:32pm: The Knicks are giving signals that they intend to keep Shumpert rather than dealing him for a pick, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
5:11pm: The Clippers trying to package Matt Barnes and the 28th overall pick as the draft draws near, reports Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. Rivers would ideally like to send them to the Knicks for Iman Shumpert, several NBA executives tell Turner. Another possibility is using those assets to acquire Gerald Green from the Suns, Turner hears. The Times scribe also says Rivers has interest in Tony Allen (Twitter link).
Barnes and Shumpert were involved in a rumored trade around the deadline, and it appears that Rivers is after the Knicks swingman again. Sending a would-be fourth first-rounder to Phoenix would cause complications for the Suns, though the executives suggest to Turner that Phoenix could put a few of those picks in another trade. Allen played for Rivers when both were with the Celtics.
The 34-year-old Barnes is set to make nearly $3.4MM in 2014/15. His contract is only guaranteed for $1MM beyond that.
Hornets Shopping Gerald Henderson
6:02pm: Sources deny to Michael Scotto of SheridanHoops that the Hornets offered Henderson for Afflalo (Twitter link).
3:43pm: As the draft draws near, the Hornets are shopping Gerald Henderson, sources tell Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider sub. req’d). Sources say Charlotte offered the No. 24 pick and Henderson to the Magic for Arron Afflalo before the guard was shipped to Denver.
That’s not the only rumored trade proposal involving Henderson that we’ve heard today. This morning, Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times reported that Charlotte was discussing a deal that would have sent Henderson to the Clippers for Jared Dudley, another player, and the No. 28 pick.
Last season, Henderson played in a career-high 77 games and averaged 14.0 PPG with 4.0 RPG in 32 minutes per contest.
Draft Rumors: Jazz, Clippers, Rockets
Jody Genessy of the Deseret News (on Twitter) hears the Jazz are “frantically” trying to move up from the No. 5 spot. Everything Utah has remains available for trade consideration. The Jazz reportedly have their eye on forward Jabari Parker and they know there’s no chance of him falling to No. 5. Here’s the latest draft news..
- Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com (on Twitter) hears the Clippers are “50-50” on keeping their first round choice.
- One name to watch for the Rockets at either No. 25 or No. 42 is Russian big man Artem Klimenko, tweets Chad Ford of ESPN.com. Houston has been doing some serious research on him in recent months.
- The Lakers aren’t sensing a lot of momentum for a pre-draft trade and, as of right now, expect to keep the No. 7 pick, tweets Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times.
- The Knicks, Blazers, and Nets are among the teams trying to land a first-round choice, league sources tell Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
- The Hornets have explored moving up from No. 24, league sources tell Kennedy (on Twitter).
- The Kings want to acquire a second-round pick, sources tell Kennedy (Twitter link).
- There are several picks in the late 20s “to be had,” one exec tells Ken Berger of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). With nine teams lacking a first-round pick, there’s a strong market for them.
- Meanwhile, Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter) hears that we could be in for high number of international picks in the 20-to-30 range. That’s because teams are placing a high value on cap space and want to stay away from the luxury tax so clubs might not be lining up to trade for picks in that range as expected (link). The clubs left holding those selections might prefer to go with draft-and-stash candidates in cases where they don’t have obvious, pressing needs.
Western Rumors: Warriors, Asik, Parker, Kings
In an interview with SiriusXM, Warriors star Andre Iguodala said that he doesn’t believe teammate Klay Thompson should be traded as part of a deal for Minnesota’s Kevin Love, writes Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group. “That’s not going to happen,” Iguodala said. “I want to clear that up right now. We should not trade Klay Thompson. I tell Klay this every day. I text Klay and say, ‘Don’t worry. I’m your man. I’m going to make sure you get paid. I’m going to get you the max (contract). You’ll be taken care of. Don’t stress.’” Here’s more out of the West..
- More dominoes will fall from the deal that sent Omer Asik to the Pelicans, tweets Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com. New Orleans may move Austin Rivers to create cap space. One possibility, Windhorst suggests, would be trading him to the Clippers, where Austin’s father holds a trade exception.
- The Rockets talked about sending Asik to the Pelicans for Ryan Anderson, but could not get much traction, tweets Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
- The Jazz remain interested in Jabari Parker, but sources say there’s still a “big concern” about his right foot, which he broke in high school, tweets Jody Genessy of the Deseret News. However, Parker is still in the lead over Andrew Wiggins on their wish list if they can pull off a deal for the No. 1 pick (link).
- The Kings appear poised to keep the No. 8 pick, sources tell Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter).
- Sponsors continue to be skittish about the Clippers as the team’s ownership situation remains unresolved, as Andrea Chang and Tiffany Hsu of the Los Angeles Times detail.
- The Timberwolves received initial criticism for last year’s draft-day trade of Trey Burke to Utah for Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng, but one year later, team president Flip Saunders is happy with the returns, writes Andy Greder of the Pioneer Press.
Draft Notes: Clippers, Exum, Heat, Stokes
The consensus around the league is that Clippers president Doc Rivers is trying to shop the team’s first round pick at No. 28, writes Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. Rivers doesn’t want to add a rookie to his roster and would rather have the cap space than pay the guaranteed salary that goes to a first-round draft pick. Officials say that Rivers has offered trade scenarios centering around their pick, plus a wing player — either Jamal Crawford, Matt Barnes, or Jared Dudley — and reserve guard Willie Green. One deal that was proposed had Dudley and another Clippers player and the No. 28 pick going to the Hornets for guard Gerald Henderson, but it has gone nowhere so far. The latest draft news from around the league..
- Dante Exum declined to fly to Cleveland for a workout today with the Cavs, tweets Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
- In addition to the Clippers, the Suns (No. 27) and Thunder (No. 29) still have picks available via trade, tweets Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. The Nets have tried hard but they look unlikely to get into the first round at this point.
- Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio (on Twitter) hears that Elfrid Payton may have passed Marcus Smart as the first point guard selected. Presumably, Amico is regarding Australian guard Exum as a shooting guard rather than a PG.
- The Heat like Tennessee forward Jarnell Stokes and he’s an option at No. 26, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Miami worked him out multiple times and came away impressed. Hoops Rumors spoke with Stokes earlier this offseason about his NBA goals and what he can bring to a team.
- UConn guard Shabazz Napier is also an option for the Heat, but he’s not likely to be on the board when they pick (link). Napier is rising up draft boards and could go in the teens.
- The Bulls really like Jordan Adams, Kennedy tweets, and he’s an option at No. 16 and No. 19 if they keep those picks.
Draft Notes: Cavs, Parker, Wiggins, Embiid
Cavs owner Dan Gilbert wants the team to draft Andrew Wiggins first overall, but the front office prefers Jabari Parker, report Jeff Goodman and Chad Ford of ESPN.com. That’s somewhat surprising, considering that Parker is seemingly the better of the two for Gilbert’s desire to win now. It’s unclear if Gilbert will let GM David Griffin and company take Parker, but after letting his executives make the call on Anthony Bennett at No. 1 last year, Gilbert will at least have a “stronger voice” this time around, Ford tweets. Here’s more on the eve of the draft:
- Andrew Wiggins wants to play for the Sixers, reports Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
- The Sixers would take Wiggins at No. 1 if they were to move up, but the Bucks, Magic, Jazz, and Celtics would all select Jabari Parker if they wound up at the top of the draft, tweets Chad Ford of ESPN.com.
- Multiple teams are trying to buy copies of Joel Embiid‘s medical records, a source tells Jake Fischer of The Boston Globe. Other sources tell Fischer that the buying of draftees’ medical records is common practice. (Twitter links)
- James Young says his workout with the Sixers went well, and gets the sense that he could be selected by Philadelphia with the No. 10 pick, tweets Pompey.
- Julius Randle passed on a second workout with the Celtics, tweets Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe.
- Marcus Smart did perform a second workout with the Celtics, and also worked out for the Magic a second time, tweets Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders,
- Zach LaVine tells Andrew Perna of RealGM he has worked out for every team holding picks six through 17 (Twitter link). The Sixers, Magic, and Bulls are teams in that range that had not been linked to a workout with LaVine previously.
- Thanasis Antetokounmpo worked out for the Knicks, tweets Charles F. Gardner of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Knicks acquired two second round picks earlier today.
- Bogdan Bogdanovic has come stateside to work out for the Spurs and Clippers, and Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress tweets that the Serbian wing is gaining steam as a potential pick late in the first round.
- Alec Brown has worked out for the Bulls, Cavs, Mavs, Clippers, Knicks, Sixers, and Raptors, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities.
- Tim Bontemps of The New York Post thinks it’s likely that the Nets can pick up a second round pick, and opines that they could even make their way into the late first round, where multiple teams would like to trade out of.
Earlier updates
- Dan Gilbert tweeted out his insistence that he and the Cavs front office are not split (hat tip to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel).
- An opposing GM told Sam Amico of FOX Sports Ohio that the Cavs are entertaining “everything,” because they are in the driver’s seat (Twitter link).
- It’s still unknown if Dante Exum will work out for the Cavs at their request, but Andy Katz of ESPN.com reports that the guard is unlikely to cooperate without an assurance that there is a deal in place for Cleveland to move down and select him.
- The Hornets have shown sporadic interest in dealing away their No. 24 pick, but those talks have cooled recently, tweets Chris Mannix of SI.com.
- The Celtics face tough odds of moving up in the draft because “lots” of other teams with better players to offer are trying to do the same, tweets A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com.
- One such team could be the Kings, who sources tell Ken Berger of CSBSports.com are trying to move up from No. 8 to have a chance at landing Joel Embiid.
- Rival GMs believe that Nuggets GM Tim Connelly is in “deal-making mode” with Denver’s No. 11 pick, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Nuggets have been reportedly shopping the pick for some time now.
- Noah Vonleh is expected to be selected first of the power forward grouping including Vonleh, Aaron Gordon, and Julius Randle, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports.
- Gordon is not expected to drop any lower than the eighth selection, per Spears’ source.
- Nets GM Billy King told Rod Boone of Newsday that the asking price to acquire a first round draft pick is likely too high for Brooklyn, and that a second round pick seems more possible (Twitter link).
- Jusuf Nurkic has a buyout to leave his international club and join the NBA this season, tweets Wojnarowski. There was some confusion as to Nurkic’s willingness and ability to join an NBA team immediately before this revelation, tweets Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.
- Joel Embiid is in “strong consideration” for the Sixers at No. 3, and it’s highly unlikely he slides past the Lakers at No. 7, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com (Twitter link). The Sixers have obtained Embiid’s medical information, as Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com reports.
- The NBA buyout in the extension that Walter Tavares signed with his Spanish team is $600K, agent Andy Miller tells Adam Zagoria of SNY.tv, and that’s precisely the amount NBA teams can pay without it counting against the cap. There were representatives from 11 NBA teams at a private workout Tavares held on Tuesday, and Raptors GM Masai Ujiri and executives from the Knicks and Nets were among them, Zagoria reports. Zagoria also adds the Spurs to the list of teams that have brought the 22-year-old center in for an audition.
- Fellow European prospect Vasilije Micic prefers to stay overseas regardless of whether he’s drafted on Thursday, as he told Rigas Dardalis of Eurohoops.net.
- The Hawks were the last of a dozen teams to work out Zach LaVine, observes Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today (Twitter link).
- Andre Dawkins auditioned for the Kings, as Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report notes within his broader look at the draft. Dawkins tells Zwerling that the Cavs, Pistons and Wizards have expressed interest in him.
- Jordan Adams wasn’t able to get to Memphis in time as the Grizzlies scrambled to put together a last-minute audition, so Michael Dixon is taking his place in the four-man workout group, tweets Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal.
Broussard’s Latest: LeBron, Griffin, Harden
The Clippers aren’t among the top choices for LeBron James, according to Chris Broussard of ESPN.com, who nonetheless wouldn’t rule them out completely. Broussard doubts that James would head there until Donald Sterling is formally ousted as owner of the club, and there’s also concern about how well James would fit on the court with friend Chris Paul, though Broussard doesn’t specify if that’s a concern of James’. Still, Heat president Pat Riley believes acquiring Blake Griffin via sign-and-trade would be the best outcome if James decides to leave Miami, Broussard reports. The ESPN scribe identifies the Heat, Cavs, Rockets, Knicks and Nets as having better chances than the Clippers do of landing James, given the four-time MVP’s preferences, and he has a few bombshells in his report, as we detail.
- If the Rockets clear enough cap room to sign one of LeBron and Carmelo Anthony, their next step would be to dangle James Harden to acquire the other via sign-and-trade. The Knicks and the Heat would be receptive to trading for Harden in that scenario, Broussard adds.
- Chris Bosh appears sold on Miami, but it’s questionable whether he’d want to stay if James leaves, Broussard writes.
- Riley is planning a run at Thunder center Kendrick Perkins, according to Broussard. I’d assume it would involve pursuing him via free agency in the event that Oklahoma City amnesties him, rather than pursuing him via trade, though that’s just my speculation.
- Broussard hears there’s a decent chance that the Warriors would be willing to acquire Jeremy Lin if he’s part of a package with Chandler Parsons.
- The Nets would prefer trading Deron Williams rather than Joe Johnson in an effort to clear room for James, Broussard says.
Cavs Make Lue Highest-Paid Assistant Ever
The agreement that the Cavs struck with one-time head coaching candidate Tyronn Lue to convince him to join the team as an assistant coach is the most lucrative ever given to an assistant in NBA history, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. It’s a four-year, $6.5MM deal that includes a $2MM team option for the fourth season, according to Wojnarowski.
Lue is leaving his job as a Clippers assistant to join the staff of David Blatt, who beat out Lue for the head coaching job in Cleveland. Clippers coach and president of basketball operations Doc Rivers was reluctant to let Lue go, but Cleveland’s money proved overwhelming, Wojnarowski writes.
The 37-year-old spent the past five seasons as an assistant coach under Rivers with the Celtics and Clippers following an 11-year playing career. He’ll be the lead assistant, with the title of associate head coach, under Blatt in Cleveland.
And-Ones: Clippers, Afflalo, Duncan
The Clippers engaged the Magic in discussions about trading for Arron Afflalo this past spring, but were rebuffed after Orlando didn’t find L.A.’s trade offers enticing enough, reports Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com. However, there was some sense that the two clubs could later re-visit talks if they managed to get a third team involved in discussions. The Clips have been eyeing Afflalo for quite some time and came close to landing the former UCLA shooting guard last summer, according to Shelburne, who also mentions that Donald Sterling eventually nixed the negotiations.
You can find more of tonight’s miscellaneous news and notes below:
- Spurs icon Tim Duncan revealed on “The Late Show with David Letterman” that he had briefly considered retirement shortly after winning his fifth NBA championship. “I thought about calling it a career…But I felt I could at least do one more year. I felt I was still effective. I felt I could still play and help the team” (transcription via Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News).
- Some NBA executives believe that the Cavaliers’ reported interest in Jabari Parker could just be a smokescreen to get other teams to ante up their trade offers for the No. 1 pick, tweets Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated. Among those teams is the Jazz, who are said to covet Parker if they acquired the top pick.
- Both Howard Eisley and Brian Scalabrine are candidates to become assistant coaches for Doc Rivers, according to Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter links). Eisley has been serving as a players skills coach for the Clippers, while Scalabrine spent the latter portion of last season as a coach for the Warriors’ D-League affiliate.
- Timberwolves president/head coach Flip Saunders said he’s in contact with other NBA teams on a daily basis, but was coy when specifically asked if those discussions involved Kevin Love, writes Andy Greder of the Pioneer Press. As Greder points out, Saunders said he’s comfortable with the current roster, including Love. “I don’t know about the prospects of us trading anybody by Thursday night…I feel comfortable with the guys that we have. If we can get something that makes our team better, we’ll do it. If we don’t, we’ll stay pat and move forward and enter into free agency on July 1.”
Clippers Open To Dealing Griffin For LeBron?
8:57pm: The team is discussing a run at LeBron but won’t trade Griffin for him, tweeted Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com earlier tonight. Shelburne points to the many times that Rivers has assured the Clippers big man that he’s “untouchable.”
5:07pm Clippers president of basketball operations Doc Rivers would be open to dealing Blake Griffin in a sign-and-trade package to land LeBron James, several NBA officials told Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. Griffin is slated to earn $17.6MM in 2014/15; according to Turner, Jared Dudley or Matt Barnes could be included along with Griffin in a deal, presumably to give LeBron a contract starting at above $20MM annually. Dudley and Barnes are on the books for $4.25MM and roughly $3.39MM respectively next season. The team wouldn’t mind including DeAndre Jordan or Jamal Crawford as an additional piece, but also understands that it would be difficult to do so.
Turner includes that the Clippers also haven’t ruled out making a run at Carmelo Anthony this summer, but didn’t specify if Los Angeles would be open to offering the same package to New York. According to one NBA official, Steve Ballmer – whose $2 billion offer to buy the Clippers is not official yet – would agree to paying the luxury tax if the team were to land James or Anthony.