NBA G League Assignments/Recalls: 2/3/18
Here are Saturday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
- The Pacers have assigned swingman Glenn Robinson III to their G League affiliate in Fort Wayne, the team announced on its website. He is on a rehab assignment after undergoing surgery on his left ankle in October. Robinson had a career-best season for the Pacers last year, averaging 6.1 points in 69 games. He has yet to play in the NBA this season, but did score 12 points for the Mad Ants on Thursday.
- The Bucks assigned rookie power forward D.J. Wilson to their Wisconsin affiliate, according to the team website. He has appeared in 18 NBA games, but is averaging just 3.3 minutes per night.
Central Notes: Frye, Brown, Thomas
The Cavaliers entertained the thought of trading center Channing Frye in a package for George Hill last month. Now that full-time starter Kevin Love is out long-term, however, the club would be wise to hold off, Bryan Kalbrosky of Hoops Hype writes.
Frye didn’t waste time stepping in to fill the void for the Cavaliers. In his first taste of action sans Love, the veteran posted 20 points and added six rebounds in just 21 minutes of action.
The 34-year-old brings more than just leadership to the Cavaliers locker room, his ability to knock down threes and generally play both inside and out will make him extra valuable until Love returns.
“Well, we know what Channing brings to the game,” Cavaliers teammate LeBron James told Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. “He adds spacing with his ability to shoot the ball for one, and he attracts the defense. But his ability to finish in the paint as well helps us out.”
There’s more from the Central Division:
- No charges will be filed against Bucks rookie Sterling Brown, Ashley Luthern of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes. Per Luthern, Brown had been arrested on a tentative misdemeanor charge of resisting or obstructing an officer. Brown has averaged 3.9 points and 2.3 rebounds in 35 games for the Bucks this season.
- The first-round pick headed to Chicago in the Nikola Mirotic trade is top-5 protected in 2018, top-8 protected in 2019, top-10 protected in 2020, and top-9 protected in 2021, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. If the Bulls, somehow, still haven’t received the pick by 2021, it will turn into second-rounders in both 2022 and 2023.
- He’s been back for 12 games, but Cavaliers guard Isaiah Thomas still isn’t 100%. “I’m not confident out there as I usually am,” he told Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com. “It’s a process getting confidence back mentally and physically in your body and doing the things you used to be able to do. And my body’s not allowing me to do that yet.”
Malcolm Brogdon Expected To Miss 6-8 Weeks
After leaving Thursday’s game with a quad injury, Bucks guard Malcolm Brogdon is expected to miss the next six to eight weeks, the club announced today in a press release. According to the team, a medical exam revealed that Brogdon had partially torn his left quadricep tendon.
In 46 games for Milwaukee this season, Brogdon has averaged 13.3 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. Lately the club has utilized the reigning Rookie of the Year as their primary backup point guard behind mid-season acquisition Eric Bledsoe.
While Brogdon’s departure may create opportunities for fellow bench guards Matthew Dellavedova and Jason Terry, easing the blow of his absence will be the return of forward Jabari Parker. Parker, of course, has been sidelined with an ACL injury since the 2016/17 season.
The estimated timetable for Brogdon’s recovery would put the guard back in the lineup in mid-to-late March, with more than enough time to play himself back into game shape prior to the beginning of the playoffs.
Bucks Rumors: O’Quinn, Dellavedova, Vaughn
With Jabari Parker‘s return to the court set for Friday night, we relayed several Bucks-related notes and rumors on Thursday, including a couple related to Parker and the contract extension discussions he had with the team last fall. Today, we’ve got a few more Bucks items to pass along, courtesy of Michael Scotto of The Athletic. Let’s dive in…
- Acquiring frontcourt help continues to be the top priority for the Bucks, according to Scotto. While Clippers center DeAndre Jordan is known to be among the team’s targets, Milwaukee is also eyeing more modest trade candidates, such as Hawks center Dewayne Dedmon and Knicks big man Kyle O’Quinn, league sources tell Scotto.
- Although the Bucks expressed trade interest in O’Quinn, the Knicks “aren’t desperate” to deal him for just a second-round pick, says Scotto.
- Matthew Dellavedova is one of the players the Bucks have made available in their search for frontcourt reinforcements, per Scotto.
- The Bucks are also “heavily” shopping Rashad Vaughn after turning down his 2018/19 team option, according to Scotto. Vaughn, who is on a $1.89MM expiring contract, would be easier to move than Dellavedova or some other Bucks on multiyear deals, but he wouldn’t net much of a return.
Suns Buy Out Greg Monroe
FEBRUARY 1, 4:06pm: The Suns have officially waived Monroe, according to a press release issued by the club. He’s on track to clear waivers on Saturday.
We rounded up several rumors on Monroe’s next landing spot earlier today.
JANUARY 31, 9:53pm: The Suns and Greg Monroe have reached an agreement on a buyout, tweets Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN adds that there will be “significant interest” around the league in signing Monroe to a rest-of-the-season contract once he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
The timing of the deal is a bit peculiar with the trade deadline about a week away, but Bordow surmises that a worthy deal likely wouldn’t have materialized for Monroe anyway, so the timing really didn’t matter to Phoenix. Wojnarowski adds that the Suns did in fact exhaust all trade possibilities before agreeing to the buyout.
Monroe, who was sent to the Suns earlier this season in the move that landed Eric Bledsoe in Milwaukee, had seen inconsistent minutes since arriving in Phoenix, with Tyson Chandler and Alex Len also vying for minutes at the five. Monroe has been viewed as a candidate to be traded or bought out since the Suns acquired him — a trade would have been challenging due to his $17.88MM cap hit.
Earlier in the evening, John Gambadoro of ArizonaSports.com opined that a buyout could be forthcoming after Monroe was not in attendance for tonight’s game against Dallas. Multiple sources indicate that the Celtics, who possess an $8.4MM disabled player exception, are a team to watch in the Monroe sweepstakes, with Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports reporting that the interest is expected to be mutual.
Helping Boston is the fact that its disabled player exception – acquired as a result of the season-ending injury to Gordon Hayward – does not prorate throughout the season. As detailed by ESPN’s Bobby Marks, this is different from the mid-level exception that most teams would utilize to offer Monroe a salary over the minimum.
In addition to the Celtics, another team said to be interested in Monroe is the Pelicans, per Bordow. New Orleans is in a position to make the playoffs and just lost All-Star DeMarcus Cousins for the rest of the season. Moreover, a potential deal for Nikola Mirotic just fell through after New Orleans refused to guarantee Mirotic’s 2018/19 salary.
New Orleans is over the cap and wouldn’t be able to offer a free agent more than the prorated portion of the bi-annual exception — even that would be tricky due to the team’s hard cap and tax ramifications. Still, Monroe is from the New Orleans area, so the Pelicans may be hoping that he is willing to take some sort of hometown discount. In addition, New Orleans could offer him a starting position, while the Celtics would almost certainly bring him off the bench.
The Thunder could also be a dark horse in the Monroe sweepstakes, according to Mannix. Meanwhile, the Bucks are ineligible to re-sign Monroe after trading him earlier in the league year.
Bucks Rumors: Parker, Kidd, Giannis, Trades
The Bucks made headlines last week by parting ways with head coach Jason Kidd, and another major event for the franchise is right around the corner, as Jabari Parker is set to return on Friday from last year’s ACL injury. With Parker poised to get back on the court, ESPN’s Zach Lowe takes a look at the situation in Milwaukee, sharing a couple interesting tidbits on the 22-year-old’s contract situation.
According to Lowe, the Bucks and Parker discussed an extension last offseason that would have been worth $54MM over three years. The former No. 2 overall pick wasn’t willing to accept that offer, so the two sides discussed other possible deals, including shorter- and longer-term scenarios. However, Milwaukee’s per-year limit was always right around $18MM, says Lowe.
Parker – who views himself as a max player, per Lowe – will now have at least a couple months to prove that he’s worth a massive investment, though it remains to be seen how high the Bucks will be prepared to go this summer when Parker reaches restricted free agency.
Here’s more from Lowe on the Bucks:
- Providing a few more details on Kidd’s ouster, Lowe says that the former Bucks head coach had a “sometimes strained” relationship with the team’s medical staff, and that some players wanted more communication and support from Kidd.
- Although there were reports indicating that Giannis Antetokounmpo was “devastated” as a result of Kidd’s firing, the move isn’t expected to result in a lingering rift between the club and its star player, writes Lowe.
- Prior to acquiring Eric Bledsoe from the Suns, the Bucks discussed a similar deal with the Hawks for Dennis Schroder, league sources tell Lowe.
- The Bucks continue to be active in trade discussions, but talks with the Clippers for DeAndre Jordan haven’t gotten anywhere near serious, according to Lowe. The ESPN scribe suggests that Derrick Favors might be a decent fit for Milwaukee, but isn’t sure whether the team has the right assets to appeal to the Jazz.
Bucks Interested In Malik Monk
In addition to looking for help at center, the Bucks are reportedly interested in potentially acquiring a shooting guard before next week’s trade deadline.
According to Gery Woelfel of the Racine Journal Times, one possible candidate is Hornets‘ rookie Malik Monk, who has fallen out of Charlotte’s rotation while working to improve his defense and adjust to the NBA game. League sources tell Woelfel that the Bucks have contacted Charlotte about Monk.
Woelfel adds that there is apparently a split in the Hornets’ hierarchy as to whether the team should hold on to Monk or move him. As highlighted before and mentioned above, the 19-year-old Monk has struggled for much of his rookie season, averaging a lowly 5.2 points per game on 33% shooting from the floor.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Monk’s best game of the season came against Milwaukee on November 1, when he poured in 25 points on five of eight from long range.
The Bucks are currently over the salary cap, but possess a $5MM trade exception that was created when they traded Roy Hibbert to Denver last season. The team also has some non-essential players that could be included in trades for salary-matching purposes.
Kyler’s Latest: G. Hill, Kings, Mavs, Randle, Parker
In the wake of this week’s massive Blake Griffin trade, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders assessed the trade market in an effort to determine which teams may be the next to make moves. We covered some of Kyler’s Clippers-related items on Tuesday, and a Rodney Hood/Stanley Johnson note from his article was reported elsewhere, but there are plenty more tidbits worth rounding up. Let’s dive in…
- The rumored deal involving George Hill between the Cavaliers and Kings isn’t dead yet, but both teams are exploring the market in search of trades they might like more, per Kyler. The two teams could revisit a Hill swap on or before February 8.
- The Kings still appear willing to move a young player or two for a first-round pick, with Skal Labissiere and Malachi Richardson among those trade candidates, Kyler writes.
- The Mavericks‘ preferred target is Julius Randle, but they may start to seriously consider Labissiere if the Lakers don’t engage in Randle talks, says Kyler. Still, Mavs sources tell Kyler that they place a lot of value on first-round picks, so it sounds like they’ll be reluctant to move one.
- Bucks sources have “aggressively downplayed” the idea that the team will trade forward Jabari Parker, who is returning this week from an ACL injury. However, the team acknowledges that its cap situation could complicate contract talks with the former No. 2 overall pick this offseason. Bucks ownership appears willing to commit to Parker if management wants to lock him up, according to Kyler, who notes that the forward would be a prime trade chip if Milwaukee wants to make a splash for a big-name center.
Three-Pronged Ownership Group Agreed On Kidd Firing
- A unique characteristic of the Bucks franchise is that their three-pronged ownership group all make big franchise decisions together. David Aldridge of TNT recently wrote about that aspect of the organization, noting that there was a consensus about firing Jason Kidd.
Jabari Parker Cleared To Play Friday
Bucks forward Jabari Parker has been medically cleared to play and is scheduled to make his season debut Friday, the team tweets.
Parker has made steady progress throughout the season to get to this point. He suffered the second ACL tear of his career last February.
Parker was expected back before the All-Star break and this confirms the timetable. “Within these couple weeks. I think it’s in the air for now,” Parker told the Associated Press last week.