- Three Southwest Division teams are possible destinations for former Bucks center Larry Sanders, according to Gery Woelfel of Woelfel’sPressBox. Sanders, who hasn’t played in the NBA since 2014/15, has hired an agent and will meet with teams next week in Miami. A source told Woelfel that the five clubs with the best shot at landing Sanders are the Rockets, Mavericks, Pelicans, Celtics and Timberwolves. Several teams have contacted the Bucks to get more information on Sanders, who is expected to receive about $300K for the rest of the season if he does sign somewhere.
Here are Monday’s D-League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
10:01 pm:
- The Bulls have assigned Denzel Valentine to their D-League affiliate, the Windy City Bulls, according to a team press release. The rookie scored 24 points while adding eight assists and seven rebounds in his only D-League appearance this season.
- The Clippers have assigned Diamond Stone to the Salt Lake City Stars, according to the team’s website. The franchise does not have its own D-League affiliate, so it will use the league’s flex assignment rule.
2:05 pm:
- The Pelicans have taken advantage of the flexible assignment rule by sending rookie big man Cheick Diallo to the D-League, the team announced today (via Twitter). Because New Orleans doesn’t have its own NBADL affiliate, Diallo will join the Greensboro Swarm, Charlotte’s D-League club.
- The Raptors have assigned Bruno Caboclo to the D-League, according to the team (Twitter link). The Raptors 905 will play in Canton tomorrow, though it’s not clear if Caboclo’s assignment will last that long, given how often he has been shuttled up and down this season.
- Pistons youngsters Henry Ellenson, Darrun Hilliard, and Michael Gbinije have been sent to the Grand Rapids Drive, per a press release issued by the club. The trio hasn’t seen a ton of action for the NBA team this season, but has combined to average 57.2 total PPG in D-League action.
Mickey Loomis, the executive vice president of the Pelicans, said his role on the team is “overblown,” as Mike Triplett of ESPN.com relays (ESPN now link). Loomis said that GM Dell Demps and coach Alvin Gentry handle the day-to-day while he simply oversees things as an advisor to owner Tom Benson. Loomis, who is also the Saints GM, added that he focuses most of his attention on the NFL team and admitted that he misses some of the Pelicans games to take care of NFL matters.
- The Pelicans are making a run at the eighth seed in the Western Conference, but Jeff Duncan of The Times-Picayune wonders if pursuing a match with the Warriors is the best move for the franchise. Duncan argues that the team should tank and land one of the nation’s elite prospects instead of taking an improbable chance at knocking off the league’s best team.
- Though not shy about expressing his frustration with a lack of playing time, Alexis Ajinca has reportedly not requested a trade from the Pelicans, tweets Justin Verrier of ESPN. Ajinca has racked up 11 DNP-CDs since his last legitimate taste of action on December 23 and has played just three minutes total in January.
Zach Lowe of ESPN.com examines the Pelicans‘ roster building strategy and cautions that the team doesn’t have much time to build a championship roster around Anthony Davis in his latest piece. It’s is packed full of noteworthy trade rumors and tidbits, including the story we passed along earlier today about how the Sixers will take a “hard look” at Jrue Holiday in free agency.
Here are more highlights from the piece:
- The Pelicans considered making a sizable offer to Harrison Barnes in free agency before deciding to spend their available cap space on multiple players, sources tell Lowe. The scribe adds that Barnes would have considered New Orleans had the team contacted him.
- The Hawks and Pelicans had exploratory talks about a Dwight Howard deal a couple weeks ago, but that was before Atlanta pulled all of its players off the trade market. Lowe notes that it’s unclear how interested New Orleans was in the deal and adds that there was not unanimous support to acquire Howard within the organization.
- If the Pelicans decide to shake up the front office at the end of the season, Danny Ferry, who is currently serving in an advisory role with the team, is not likely to take over GM duties, sources tell Lowe.
- Tyreke Evans and Jrue Holiday will both be free agents this offseason and Lowe notes that it will be hard for the Pelicans to keep both. The scribe adds that retaining Holiday remains New Orleans’ higher priority.
The Sixers will take a hard look at Jrue Holiday in free agency, sources tell Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. Philadelphia will have the available cap space to offer the point guard a lucrative contract should it chose to do so and Lowe notes that Holiday would be a great fit alongside Ben Simmons.
The Pelicans are worried that Holiday could walk at the end of the season. They are also worried that his departure would cause Anthony Davis to be frustrated with the direction of the franchise. Davis wants Holiday to remain in New Orleans, but he understands it’s out of his control. “I’m gonna do everything in my power to keep him here,” Davis said. “But it’s a business decision, and he’s a grown man with a family.”
New Orleans could deal Holiday before the deadline out of fear that it will lose him for nothing over the summer. However, Lowe adds that it’s more likely that they hold onto him and hope the free agent bidding war doesn’t get too out of hand.
Holiday previously said he hasn’t thought about his potential free agent decision. He’ll make slightly under $11.3MM this season in the final year of his deal.
Anthony Davis left today’s game versus the Pacers after injuring his right hip and left thumb. The X-rays he received on both areas came back negative, according to the team’s Twitter feed. Davis hurt his left hip last week against the Knicks, which forced him to miss the ensuing contest against the Nets. The Pelicans won’t play again until Wednesday, so the team will have a couple of days to evaluate Davis’ latest ailment. The big man has only missed three games this season, though he missed parts of six other contests because of various injuries.
Here’s more from around the league:
- Gary Harris injured his right ankle today and he’s not expected to play on Tuesday when the Nuggets take on the Lakers, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post relays. Injuries have prevented Harris from suiting up in 21 of the team’s 38 games this season.
- The Texas Legends, the D-League affiliate of the Mavs, have acquired DeJuan Blair, according to Chris Reichert of The Step Back (Twitter link). Blair played for the Wizards last season before the team traded him to the Suns in the Markieff Morris deal. Phoenix waived the power forward just days after the trade.
- Ben Bentil has rejoined the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the D-League, Reichert reports (Twitter link). Bentil played for the Mad Ants earlier in the season before taking a deal in China.
Most of 2016’s offseason signees became eligible to be traded on December 15, and 21 more had their trade restrictions lifted on Sunday. Now that we’ve passed January 15, nearly all of the players in the NBA are trade-eligible, but there are still a handful of guys who can’t be moved.
Generally speaking, a player who signs a new contract becomes eligible to be dealt after three months or on December 15, whichever comes later. That’s why players who sign deals in July are eligible to be traded after December 15. For those free agents who didn’t sign until later in the year though, there are different deadlines.
Here are the players who signed recently enough that they aren’t yet trade-eligible:
- Spencer Dinwiddie, Nets: Signed as free agent on December 8.
- Bobby Brown, Rockets: Signed as free agent on December 16.
- Donatas Motiejunas, Pelicans: Signed as free agent on January 3.
By the time those players have been under contract for three months, it will be after this season’s February 23 trade deadline, meaning they can’t be traded at all during the season. Dinwiddie, who has a multiyear pact with Brooklyn, could be moved in the summer, but Brown and Motiejunas have one-year deals, meaning Houston and New Orleans won’t get a chance to trade them.
Players who recently signed contract extensions also face certain restrictions. These restrictions don’t apply to the group of players that signed rookie-scale extensions prior to October 31, but they do apply to guys like James Harden and Russell Westbrook, who had their deals renegotiated and extended during the offseason. Harden and Westbrook can’t be traded for six months after signing those extensions.
Since Harden signed his new deal on July 9, he became trade-eligible last Monday, though of course he’s not going anywhere. Westbrook, who is also untouchable at this point, signed his extension on August 4, meaning his trade restriction will lift on February 4.
In addition to those four players, there are four more who are currently on NBA rosters, but can’t be traded. Those four guys are on 10-day contracts, which can’t be moved to another team. Here’s the current list of players on 10-day deals, via our tracker:
- Alonzo Gee, Nuggets: Signed on January 8.
- Quincy Acy, Nets: Signed on January 10.
- Chasson Randle, Sixers: Signed on January 10.
- Pierre Jackson, Mavericks: Signed on January 15.
In total, by our count, there are eight players currently on NBA rosters (out of 443) who are ineligible to be traded. That doesn’t include players who can veto trades, but even after taking those guys into account, NBA teams should still have plenty of flexibility to make moves in the coming weeks.
- The Jazz recalled guards Alec Burks and Raul Neto from the Salt Lake City Stars and assigned forward Joel Bolomboy to the same team, the team announced in a press release. The guard duo was assigned there on Wednesday to get some playing time against the Grand Rapids Drive and Neto finished one rebound shy of a triple-double. This marks the 10th assignment for Bolomboy.
- The Knicks recalled forward Maurice Ndour and center Marshall Plumlee from their affiliate, the Westchester Knicks, the team’s PR staff tweets. That duo combined for 24 points and 20 rebounds against the Maine Red Claws after being assigned on Tuesday.
- The Nets recalled forward Chris McCullough from their Long Island affiliate and he was available against the Pelicans on Thursday night, the team tweets. McCullough poured in 37 points in Long Island’s 138-133 overtime win over the Greensboro Swarm earlier in the day, his 22nd appearance with the D-League club.
- The Pelicans recalled forward Cheick Diallo, who was also playing for the Long Island Nets, the team’s PR department tweets. He played two games there, averaging 12.0 points in 17.4 minutes after going there on Tuesday under the flexible assignment rule.
- The Thunder assigned guard Semaj Christon to the Oklahoma City Blue, the team announced in a tweet. Christon has appeared in 36 games with the Thunder this season, averaging 3.2 points and 1.4 assists in 15.4 minutes.
- The Trail Blazers assigned guard Tim Quarterman to the Windy City Bulls under the flex rule, they announced in a press release. The rookie has made 12 brief appearances with the Blazers this season.
- The Rockets aren’t active in trade talks, and even though GM Daryl Morey never sits still, the team is more likely to do something minor than major, if it makes a move at all, tweets Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders. Kyler also weighed in on the Pelicans, tweeting that Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans, who are eligible for free agency this summer, are worth keeping an eye on as the trade deadline nears.