Steve Nash Seriously Considering Retirement?
5:06pm: A source close to Nash who’s familiar with the point guard’s thinking tells Medina that the retirement chatter is “premature.”
3:39pm: Mike D’Antoni told reporters, including Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News (Twitter link), that Nash hasn’t mulled retirement.
10:08am: Only a week and a half ago, Steve Nash expressed his intent to play out the remaining two years on his contract, in spite of a number of nagging injuries. However, according to longtime NBA writer Peter Vecsey (Twitter link), those health problems, including nerve root irritation, may be forcing Nash to reconsider. Vecsey hears that the veteran point guard is “seriously considering calling it a career.”
Given Nash’s recent comments about attempting to play this season and next, I’d be surprised if his retirement was imminent. He’s expected to be re-evaluated later this month, and for now, the Lakers are waiting on his return rather than exploring alternatives at point guard. Still, if the timetable for Nash’s return gets extended, or he suffers a setback, both he and the team will have to seriously weigh all their options.
As Vecsey’s tweet suggests, if Nash were to retire, he’d still get paid and the Lakers would receive cap relief next season. Nash is owed about $9.7MM for 2014/15, so if he’s cut anytime between now and August 31st, 2014, that amount can be stretched over three years. The Lakers’ cap hit in that scenario would be about $3.23MM annually from ’14/15 through ’16/17.
It’s also possible that the Lakers could receive even more cap relief if NBA doctors were to rule Nash medically unable to play for the next two years. Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times explained that potential scenario last week, noting that medical retirements are rare in the NBA.
Lamar Odom Will Only Sign With Clippers
MONDAY, 9:30am: A source close to Odom tells Jared Zwerling of Bleacher Report (Twitter link) that the veteran forward is doing well and that there’s a “90% chance” he eventually signs with the Clippers. There’s no timetable yet, but no other teams are in the mix, according to Zwerling’s source.
This report sounds similar to Friday’s, though a Saturday update suggested that nothing is expected to happen quite yet.
SUNDAY, 2:06pm: This week, we got some encouraging news when it was reported that Lamar Odom is looking sharp in workouts and could conceivably return to the hardwood this season. Both Los Angeles teams have interest in the forward, but it now appears that he’s only interested in a return to one of them. Odom has said that the Clippers are the only team he would play for, NBA executives who are not authorized to speak on the matter tell Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times.
Odom met with coach Doc Rivers for nearly two hours on Friday and Clippers players were left with the impression that he was on the verge of signing a deal, but that apparently wasn’t the case. The troubled forward has put in a month of encouraging workouts and while he had hoped for a second-half return, he could be ready to jump back in even sooner than that. Unsurprisingly, execs say that if Odom signs with the Clippers, it’ll be for the prorated portion of the veteran’s minimum.
It’s been a rough year for Odom who was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence weeks before unnamed peers alleged that he was using hard drugs. Odom has played 12 of his 14 seasons in Los Angeles between the Clippers and Lakers.
Offseason In Review: Los Angeles Lakers
Hoops Rumors is in the process of looking back at each team’s offseason, from the end of the playoffs in June right up until opening night. Trades, free agent signings, draft picks, contract extensions, option decisions, camp invitees, and more will be covered, as we examine the moves each franchise made over the last several months.
Signings
- Chris Kaman: One year, $3.18MM. Signed via mini mid-level exception.
- Robert Sacre: Three years, $2.69MM. Signed via Non-Bird rights. Third year is non-guaranteed.
- Nick Young: Two years, $2.33MM. Signed via minimum salary exception. Second year is player option.
- Elias Harris: Two years, $1.31MM. Signed via minimum salary exception. First year is partially guaranteed for $100K. Second year is non-guaranteed.
- Jordan Farmar: One year, $1.11MM. Signed via minimum salary exception.
- Shawne Williams: One year, $1.11MM. Signed via minimum salary exception. Partially guaranteed for $100K.
- Xavier Henry: One year, $916K. Signed via minimum salary exception. Non-guaranteed.
- Wesley Johnson: One year, $916K. Signed via minimum salary exception.
Trades
- None
Draft Picks
- Ryan Kelly (Round 2, 48th overall). Signed via minimum salary exception for one year, $490K. Non-guaranteed.
Camp Invitees
- Eric Boateng
- Dan Gadzuric
- Darius Johnson-Odom
- Marcus Landry
Departing Players
- Earl Clark
- Chris Duhon
- Devin Ebanks
- Andrew Goudelock
- Dwight Howard
- Antawn Jamison
- Darius Morris
- Metta World Peace (amnestied)
Rookie Contract Option Decisions
- None
It was perhaps the most difficult summer for Lakers fans since the team’s nearly annual Finals defeats to the Celtics in the 1960s. Dwight Howard turned his back on the chance to join the pantheon of legendary purple-and-gold centers, bolting for the Rockets and leaving the Lakers without much flexibility to replace him. L.A. was still over the cap even without Howard, meaning the team was stuck with only cap exception money to add to the roster, barring a major trade or a nearly unthinkable amnesty of Kobe Bryant. The Kobe amnesty might have become a possibility if the Lakers had landed Howard as well as Chris Paul, but the team had no such luck on the free agent market, and Bryant remains as much a part of the franchise as ever. There wasn’t any significant offseason trade chatter involving Pau Gasol, once a fixture on the trade market, or Steve Nash, so it was a summer for GM Mitch Kupchak to make the best of a picked-over market of free agent leftovers.
The Lakers did cut ties with one member of their last championship squad, using the amnesty clause to remove Metta World Peace from their books instead of Bryant. Subtracting World Peace’s $7.7MM salary for 2013/14 saved the Lakers a much greater sum in luxury taxes, but it didn’t take them under the cap the way shedding Bryant’s $30.5MM cap figure might have. The 34-year-old World Peace isn’t the player he once was, but he experienced no significant drop-off in production last season while playing 33.7 minutes per game. The move was one of austerity more than any other motivation, a rarity for the high-rolling Lakers. Still, there’s no reason to spend extra cash to keep a player on the downside of his career during a season in which championship hopes aren’t realistic.
Kupchak committed his mini mid-level exception to a center who could replace Howard, bringing former Clipper Chris Kaman back to Los Angeles after a season in which he’d been disgruntled under coach Rick Carlisle in Dallas. Kaman had signed with the Mavs on a one-year, $8MM deal, and was one of the top centers on the 2012 free agent market. That makes the 31-year-old a potential bargain for the Lakers after Carlisle limited Kaman to the fewest minutes per night of his career last season. It was nonetheless odd to see the Lakers allocate their largest chunk of free agent money to a big man who could recreate the problems Howard and Gasol had fitting together under coach Mike D’Antoni, who prefers small-ball. Kaman is seeing even less playing time for the Lakers so far this year than he did with Dallas, so it appears D’Antoni’s solution is simply to keep Kaman out of Gasol’s way, limiting the effect of Kupchak’s greatest summer expenditure.
Kupchak used the minimum-salary exception on every other signee this offseason, save for yet another center. He used the team’s Non-Bird rights on fan favorite Robert Sacre to exceed the minimum-salary exception’s two-year limit and give the 7-footer a three-year deal. Sacre won’t make any more than the minimum salary in any of the three seasons, but the team will have him under control until 2016 should he develop into more than the third-stringer he is. It’s somewhat surprising that Sacre’s salary is guaranteed for this season and next, since the Lakers have long been clearing their 2014/15 payroll for a shot at a splashy summer of 2014, but the less-than-$1MM cap hit wouldn’t be much of a dent in the team’s flexibility.
Kupchak may have put another chip in the team’s cap room for next summer with his deal for Nick Young. The Southern California native and former USC Trojan has a player option for next year in his minimum-salary contract. Young, like Kaman, signed a much more lucrative one-year deal in 2012, inking with the Sixers for $5.6MM. The 28-year-old shooting guard also saw a reduction in minutes last season, the third straight year in which his three-point percentage declined. Still, he was a respectable 35.7% from behind the arc in 23.9 minutes per game last season, and the double-figure scorer could have commanded more than the minimum. The lure of playing close to home and his friendship with fellow Lakers offseason signee Jordan Farmar was enough for Young to sacrifice dollars for comfort.
The best bargain Kupchak came across might have been one of the team’s final signees of the summer. Xavier Henry came to camp on no more than a non-guaranteed invitation, and with his NBA career teetering on the brink of extinction, he suddenly delivered on the promise that made him the 12th overall pick in 2010. Henry went for 29 points in a preseason game, and delivered more of the same with a 22-point performance off the bench in an upset of the Clippers on opening night. He’s earned a couple of starts, but he has yet to score 20 points again, so it remains to be seen whether he’ll drift back into his doldrums or if the Lakers stumbled upon a true find.
Henry’s story is somewhat reminiscent of Earl Clark‘s from last season. Clark, another former lottery pick, had his best season by far in 2012/13 with the Lakers after injuries to others pressed him into duty. The Lakers had interest in re-signing the versatile forward, but the Cavs offered him a two-year, $8.5MM contract that was about twice what I figured he was worth. The Lakers had full Bird Rights on the 25-year-old, but they weren’t about to overpay him so steeply when it would have meant millions more in tax penalties.
Of more significance is how much the Lakers will shell out for Bryant now that co-owner and executive VP Jim Buss says the team has begun extension talks with the star and agent Rob Pelinka. Bryant has expressed reticence about taking a significant pay cut from his $30MM salary this year. He could make as much as $32.7MM next season, but doing so would limit the team’s ability to surround him with marquee free agent talent. Much hinges on how well Bryant performs this season once he returns from injury, but Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors pegs Bryant’s annual salary for the next two or three years at around $15MM. The negotiations with Bryant will be the keystone for the team’s long-awaited summer of 2014. LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and other juicy targets are on the horizon, with the promise of more glory in Lakerland. For now, and for this past summer, the keyword has been patience, and the team must be willing to continue down the path of sacrifice this year and resist sacrificing a bright future to salvage a lackluster present.
Luke Adams contributed to this post.
Latest On Lamar Odom, Clippers
8:53pm: Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLA.com tweets that Doc Rivers had a “good conversation, [but] not much more than that” with Odom.
1:36pm: Lamar Odom appeared on his way to rejoining the Clippers after meeting with the team Friday, but Dan Woike of the Orange County Register hears no deal is likely to happen anytime soon (Twitter link). The league will examine Odom’s personal problems before any signing would take place, reports Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. Last night’s reports didn’t indicate that an agreement was imminent, but it doesn’t look like there’s a definitive timetable, or that either the Clippers or Odom’s camp is speeding toward a resolution.
Executives who spoke to Turner believe the 34-year-old Odom could be physically ready to play basketball again “in a few weeks.” Perhaps of greater concern is Odom’s mental state after a summer that included a DUI charge and rumors of drug use, among other tabloid headlines. Odom’s meeting yesterday with Doc Rivers and Clippers executives was more of a check-up than a contract discussion, writes Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Prior to that, the Clippers had made no recent contact with the power forward other than to make sure he was OK amid all the allegations against his personal character. The same had been true for the Lakers, the other team that reportedly maintains interest in Odom.
Odom nonetheless demonstrated to the executives who spoke to Turner that he’s in shape, having worked out on his own for the past month. The client of Jeff Schwartz and Excel Sports Management has been telling confidants that he’d like to sign with a contender, according to Turner, which would give the Clippers an edge over the Lakers.
California Rumors: Kobe, Pierce, KG, Warriors
It might be awhile before Lamar Odom is back on the court, though it sounds like he’s moving toward a reunion with the Clippers. A much bigger L.A. star is also making progress toward playing again, as we detail here:
- Kobe Bryant returned to practice today with the Lakers, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, though there’s still no timetable for when he’ll make it into a game for the first time since tearing his left Achilles tendon in April.
- Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett remain in regular contact with Clippers coach Doc Rivers, but at one point this summer the ex-Celtics figured they’d both be following their coach to L.A., as Pierce and Garnett tell Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports. Garnett and Pierce also expressed doubt that they would have been pleased to play in Boston without Rivers around.
- Warriors owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber have made strides in turning the franchise into a team that didn’t have to make a sales pitch to convince Andre Iguodala to come aboard this summer, as Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle examines. Lacob and Guber may face their stiffest test yet as they seek to build an arena in San Francisco.
- We covered more Lakers rumors earlier this morning in our roundup from the Pacific Division.
Pacific Notes: Lakers, Shumpert, Gasol, Suns
Let’s head out West for a look at the Pacific Division..
- Steve Kyler of HoopsWorld (via Twitter) would be surprised if the Lakers didn’t have interest in Knicks guard Iman Shumpert. Unfortunately for L.A., they don’t have the kind of young impact big that New York is looking for.
- In his new book, Lakers forward Pau Gasol discusses the trade that brought him to Los Angeles and the trade rumors that have swirled around him ever since, writes Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times. “The last two season have been challenging and difficult. The constant trade rumors, injuries and coaching changes — from Phil Jackson to Mike Brown, from Mike to Bernie Bickerstaff and from Bernie to Mike D’Antoni — have been a lot to take in.“
- The new-look Suns are the top fast break team in the league and they have no intentions of taking their foot off of the gas, writes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.
Clippers Nearing Deal With Lamar Odom?
10:38pm: A source tells Stein that a deal doesn’t appear imminent, but that he’d be surprised if it doesn’t happen at some point. Odom has put in a month of encouraging workouts, speeding up his original plan to sign in the second half of the season (Twitter links).
9:36pm: Free agent Lamar Odom met for almost two hours with Doc Rivers and Clippers front office officials today after practice, leaving Clippers players with the impression that the team will sign him soon, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter links). The players were “shocked” to see him, and the 34-year-old looks like he’s in shape, Spears also tweets.
A report just yesterday indicated the Clippers, as well as the Lakers, maintain interest in the troubled power forward. ESPN’s Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne wrote then that neither team had made recent contract with Odom other than to check on his well-being, but that appears to have changed after today’s Clippers meeting. The ESPN report indicated that Odom would have to prove he’s healthy both mentally and physically before either team would sign him, and that he was eyeing a comeback in the second half of the season. That timetable may have been accelerated.
The Clippers have an open roster spot and have reportedly been considering multiple options for filling it. They’re about $2.4MM shy of their hard cap for the season, but Odom isn’t likely to merit more than a minimum-salary deal.
A source tells Spears that Odom’s presence at the Clippers facility today was indeed shocking, but added that it was “good surprise” (Twitter link). It appears Odom, who faced personal and legal troubles this summer, including a DUI charge and rumors of drug use, could be back on the right path. He returned to Los Angeles last season after a tumultuous year in Dallas in which the Mavericks told him to stay away from the team for the last several weeks of 2011/12. Odom has played 12 of his 14 seasons for one L.A. team or the other, and though the Knicks, from his native New York, reportedly had interest over the summer, Odom seems committed to staying in the City of Angels.
Pacific Notes: Jackson, Henry, Hill
When asked about already losing to the Clippers, Spurs, and Grizzlies – three teams considered to be among the league’s elite, Warriors head coach Mark Jackson was straightforward: “Are those three elite? Then, we’re in the discussion…We’re a very good team that has continued to develop, continued to grow…I certainly like my team, when we’re at our best” (hat tip to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle for the Twitter links).
Here are more miscellaneous tidbits to pass along out of the Pacific Division:
- Xavier Henry‘s breakout performance thus far is remarkable considering that his NBA career may have been hanging in the balance only several months ago. Hoopsworld’s Yannis Koutroupis gathered the former lottery pick’s thoughts on playing for the Lakers and how he’s handled his early success this season.
- Jordan Hill not only provides badly-needed toughness but has played a pivotal role in helping the Lakers win four out of their first ten games, writes Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times.
- Bill Dwyre, also of the L.A. Times, suggests that Matt Barnes‘ ejection from last night’s game may have provided the impetus for turning the Clippers’ defense in the right direction. Eric Patten of Clippers.com writes that the team’s brilliant second half last night was proof that strides are being made on the defensive end.
Odds & Ends: Kelly, Lakers, Nelson, Davis
Lakers second round pick Ryan Kelly made a strong enough impression on the club to secure a roster spot despite being sidelined for the latter part of the offseason, but there isn’t enough playing time for him on the varsity squad. Earlier today, the Lakers announced that Kelly and forward Elias Harris have been sent down to the Los Angeles D-Fenders. To keep up with all of this year’s D-League assignments, check out Hoops Rumors’ running list for 2013/14. Here’s more from around the Association..
- This season Jameer Nelson is one of seven veterans with playoff experience on a Magic roster that includes eight players who are in their third NBA season or fewer, writes jessica Camerato of HoopsWorld.
- Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel contends that Glen Davis‘ latest off-court incident “killed” his trade value, and Schmitz wonders whether the Magic will hold Davis out of games for the entire season.
- A prominent online betting site has Wizards coach Randy Wittman at 2/1 odds for being the first NBA coach to get fired, tweets Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com.. Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni is handicapped at 12/1 odds for being the first to get the heave-ho.
- Zach Lowe of Grantland took an in-depth look at Lance Stephenson and the impact that he has had on the Pacers. There’s strong mutual interest in hammering out a new deal in Indiana and that could spell the end of Danny Granger‘s tenure there.
Chuck Myron contributed to this post.
Western Notes: Budinger, Blair, Lakers, Liggins, Eliyahu
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports got T’Wolves fans excited today when he passed along news that Chase Budinger will return to Minnesota and has been cleared to resume basketball activity. However, the T’Wolves seem to be saying (via Twitter) that he may not start practicing right away. Here’s this afternoon’s look at the Western Conference..
- Offseason acquisition DeJuan Blair could earn a regular the Mavericks‘ rotation, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com. When Brandan Wright returns from his right shoulder injury, Dallas will be saddled with a wonderful problem: two talented big men off of the bench who are hungry for playing time.
- Ten games is enough to start evaluating the Lakers, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com. The Kobe Bryant-less Lakers are 4-6, though offseason pickup Wesley Johnson has been among the team’s bright spots.
- Keith Schlosser of Ridiculous Upside wonders if DeAndre Liggins will be a candidate for D-League MVP this season. Schlosser believes that the former Thunder guard could rise up as this season’s Andrew Goudelock.
- Israeli guard Lior Eliyahu, whose NBA draft rights are owned by the T’Wolves, has signed a three-year deal with Hapoel Jerusalem, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. It’s not clear if the deal includes an NBA out-clause. Minnesota acquired Eliyahu’s draft rights in the 2012 Chase Budinger trade with Houston. To keep track of everyone’s whereabouts from around the world, check out the Hoops Rumors International Tracker.