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Carmelo Anthony Announces Retirement

May 22nd, 2023 at 8:39am CST by Arthur Hill

Carmelo Anthony has retired from the NBA after 19 seasons, making the announcement on Monday in a video (Twitter link).

The 38-year-old forward was a 10-time All-Star and a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team. He ranks ninth on the career scoring list with 28,289 points in 1,260 career games with the Nuggets, Knicks, Thunder, Rockets, Trail Blazers and Lakers.

“Now the time has come for me to say goodbye,” Anthony said in the video. “To the court where I made my name, to the game that gave me purpose and pride.”

Anthony remained unsigned this season after averaging 13.3 PPG in 69 games with L.A. in 2021/22. There was a rumor in February that Kevin Durant and Chris Paul might lobby the Suns to add him as a veteran off the bench, but nothing was ever worked out. He also reportedly drew interest from teams in Taiwan last November, but wasn’t willing to play there.

The Hall of Fame will likely be the next stop for Anthony, who was selected with the third pick by Denver in the 2003 draft after winning a national championship in his lone season at Syracuse. He played eight seasons with the Nuggets before moving on to New York, where he captured the league’s scoring title in 2013.

In addition to his NBA accomplishments, Anthony leaves behind a strong legacy in international competition. He appeared in four Olympics, winning three gold medals and a bronze, and represented Team USA in the World Championship and Americas Championship as well.

Anthony will serve as one of three global ambassadors for this year’s FIBA World Cup.

Joe Mazzulla In Jeopardy After Game 3 Loss?

May 22nd, 2023 at 7:57am CST by Arthur Hill

The Celtics‘ embarrassing Game 3 loss to Miami could lead to significant changes this offseason, writes Brian Windhorst of ESPN. Boston entered the conference finals as the odds-on favorite to win the NBA title, but the team didn’t look anything like a champion in Sunday’s 128-102 defeat. The Heat seized control of the game late in the first quarter and led by as many as 33 points before the night was over.

The most obvious questions center on the future of head coach Joe Mazzulla, who has been overmatched by Heat mentor Erik Spoelstra in the series. Windhorst states that Mazzulla seemed well-positioned to return for another season before Game 3, but the Celtics’ lifeless performance makes his job much less safe.

Mazzulla accepted blame for the loss, repeatedly telling reporters, “I just didn’t have them ready to play,” and adding, “I have to get them in a better place ready to play, and that’s on me.”

Windhorst believes Mazzulla went too far in trying to protect his players with his post-game comments, stating that they were so “over-the-top” that they came off as “transparent.”

President of basketball operations Brad Stevens remains a strong supporter of Mazzulla, Windhorst adds. Stevens selected Mazzulla to run the team after Ime Udoka was suspended last fall and then appointed him as permanent head coach in midseason.

However, Windhorst cites a “rising expectation” that Mazzulla will become the fall guy for the disastrous playoff ending it appears the Celtics are headed toward. He was given an undisclosed contract extension when the “interim” was removed from his title in February, but the organization may decide that a 34-year-old with no prior head coaching experience isn’t the right person to run a team with championship aspirations.

The recent firings of high-profile coaches such as Mike Budenholzer, Nick Nurse and Doc Rivers, who have all led teams to titles, may make Mazzulla’s future even more tenuous.

Boston also has to determine this summer whether to give Jaylen Brown an extension worth more than $280MM that he qualified for by earning All-NBA honors. Brown has been particularly bad against Miami, shooting 2-of-20 from three-point range, including an 0-of-7 performance Sunday night.

Windhorst states that questions are re-emerging about whether Brown and Jayson Tatum should be the foundation of the team. It will eventually cost the Celtics more than $50MM apiece annually to keep them together, and the front office has to determine whether that’s the best pairing for the future.

Barring an unprecedented turnaround, the Celtics will enter the offseason haunted by the feeling that the team wasn’t prepared for the Game 3 challenge and quit when things got tough. Another loss Tuesday night could set the direction for a summer upheaval.

Wizards Express Interest In Bob Myers

May 20th, 2023 at 12:01pm CST by Luke Adams

The Wizards, who are in the market for a new head of basketball operations after parting ways with Tommy Sheppard last month, have registered “formal interest” in Warriors executive Bob Myers, Marc Stein reports at Substack.

Myers, Golden State’s general manager since 2012, is taking some time this spring to weigh his future with his contract set to expire. He and the Warriors are said to be far apart on a new deal, opening the door for Washington reach out and gauge his interest in the Wizards’ job.

While it’s hard to blame the Wizards for trying, Stein says the expectation in Golden State is that Myers won’t work in the NBA next season if he doesn’t remain with the Warriors.

As Stein explains, Myers has close relationships with Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and core players like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. If he chooses to leave them, it would likely be to take a break and to spend more time with his family rather than to jump right into a high-ranking position in another organization.

The Wizards are moving deliberately as they search for a new top basketball executive. By all accounts, they’ve only formally met with two candidates so far: Pelicans general manager Trajan Langdon and Clippers general manager Michael Winger. With the NBA draft just over a month away, Washington will presumably accelerate the process soon and make a hire sometime before June 22.

As for Myers, Stein says that the Warriors’ lead exec is expected to hold his end-of-season media session with Bay Area media at some point in the coming week. It’s unclear whether Myers will be prepared to offer clarity on his plans for next season at that time.

All-Star Game Could Return To East Vs. West Matchup

May 19th, 2023 at 6:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The NBA could revert to the East vs. West format for the All-Star Game, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.

The annual event had been a competition between the two conferences from its inception in 1951 through the 2017 season. Over the past six seasons, the league has used a player draft to determine the teams.

That could be among several changes as the NBA looks to increase the competition level of the league’s showcase event, Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic tweets.

The All-Star Game has essentially turned into a glorified offensive exhibition. The winning team in the last two All-Star conference matchups exceeded 190 points. The league adopted a “target score” concept in fourth quarters to prevent an even higher total in recent years but the 2023 All-Star Game still wound up with a 184-175 score, with Team Giannis defeating Team LeBron.

The NBA and Players Association agreed in recent months to discuss ways to improve the All-Star Game as part of the new collective bargaining agreement. It has also been topic of discussion at recent Board of Governors and GM meetings.

The changes they are looking to implement could occur as soon as next season’s All-Star Game, which will be held in Indianapolis in February.

Rockets Reportedly Expect To Land James Harden

May 19th, 2023 at 12:33pm CST by Luke Adams

The Rockets expect to reunite with James Harden this offseason, sources tell Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

According to Pompey, the belief among executives across the NBA is that Harden will return to Houston. Sources tell The Inquirer that the 33-year-old’s interest in rejoining the Rockets is genuine and not a negotiating tactic to get a bigger contract out of the Sixers. Houston has the cap room necessary to offer him a maximum-salary deal.

Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta “loves” Harden, according to Pompey, who hears that coaching candidates during Houston’s search for Stephen Silas‘ replacement were asked during their interviews about their thoughts on coaching Harden.

For his part, the veteran guard still has family and business ventures in the city, where he spent eight-and-a-half years of his NBA career. He also visited Houston multiple times this past season when time permitted, says Pompey.

Very little from Pompey’s report is new information.

Word of a possible reunion between the Rockets and Harden first broke on Christmas Day and was corroborated a couple months later. Jake Fischer reported last week that Harden’s name came up frequently during the Rockets’ interviews of head coaching candidates, while Adrian Wojnarowski said the draft lottery outcome wouldn’t affect Houston’s level of interest in the former MVP. Earlier this week, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon and Zach Lowe agreed in a podcast that the Rockets “think he’s coming.”

Still, even if Pompey’s report isn’t surprising, it’s noteworthy to see a Philadelphia beat writer state in such strong terms that a return to Houston is the expected outcome for Harden.

The Rockets have been one of the NBA’s worst teams since trading Harden to Brooklyn in January 2021, but they’re motivated to turn things around in 2023/24 since they’ll send their ’24 first-round pick to Oklahoma City if it lands outside of the top four. Multiple reports have indicated that the organization wants to acquire veteran talent this summer.

Although Harden missed out on All-Star honors this year for the first time since 2012, he still posted strong numbers during the regular season, averaging 21.0 points, a league-leading 10.7 assists, and 6.1 rebounds per game with a .441/.385/.867 shooting line in 58 appearances (36.8 MPG).

His playoff production was inconsistent — his overall averages of 20.3 PPG, 8.3 APG, and 6.2 RPG were solid, but he shot just 39.3% from the field during the postseason and averaged only 12.5 PPG in four losses to Boston in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

We still have nearly a month-and-a-half before free agency officially begins, so even if Harden declines his 2023/24 player option with the Sixers, as he reportedly will, things could change in the next six weeks.

Philadelphia will have the ability to offer him more money than the Rockets, though Houston can afford to be aggressive, with the ability to create approximately $60MM in cap space. Harden’s projected maximum salary will be $46.9MM.

Given that the Rockets have the cap room necessary to sign a Harden outright, they’d have little incentive to negotiate a sign-and-trade deal with Philadelphia. The 76ers, meanwhile, wouldn’t be in position to create meaningful cap room if Harden left in free agency, so they could be left in a tough spot in that scenario.

As Pompey notes, Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey told reporters this week that the team’s priority is re-signing Harden.

“Scenario A would be to bring James back,” Morey said. “Scenario B, if he’s not back, we’ll have to get creative.”

Nick Nurse Expected To Meet With Bucks, Suns

May 19th, 2023 at 11:40am CST by Luke Adams

In addition to interviewing with the Sixers, Nick Nurse is expected to meet with the Bucks and Suns to discuss their head coaching positions, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic.

According to Charania, Nurse is expected to be in “high demand” this spring and could end up having one more than one job offer to choose from.

There are currently five NBA teams with head coaching openings. Besides Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Phoenix, the Raptors and Pistons are in the market for coaches. But Toronto just parted ways with Nurse and Detroit is believed to be in the final stages of its search.

Nurse won a championship in 2019 with the Raptors and was named the NBA’s Coach of the Year in 2020, earning praise for his creative defensive schemes. Across five seasons, Nurse had a 227-163 (.582) regular season record and a 25-16 (.610) playoff mark as Toronto’s head coach.

As our head coaching search tracker shows, the Bucks are conducting a wide-ranging search as they seek a replacement for Mike Budenholzer — reports have indicated that they’ve interviewed or will interview at least 13 candidates. Nurse is the fifth candidate said to be meeting with Phoenix.

Sixers To Interview Nick Nurse This Week

May 18th, 2023 at 10:03pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Former title-winning Raptors head coach Nick Nurse is set to interview with the Sixers this week, reports Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Philadelphia fired previous head coach Doc Rivers after the team’s seven-game second-round playoff loss to the Celtics last week.

Nurse was previously identified as a candidate for the Sixers gig. In his first season as Toronto’s head coach, he guided the club to its first-ever NBA championship, led by Kawhi Leonard, Kyle Lowry, and Pascal Siakam on the floor.

After Leonard departed as a free agent that summer, the Raptors’ subsequent season outcomes were up and down. The team never got out of the second round during the next four years.

All told, Nurse posted a 227-163 regular season record during his five seasons as the head man in Toronto. He was dismissed from the position after the Raptors failed to win a single play-in game this spring.

The Sixers, who have yet to advance beyond the second round of the playoffs with reigning MVP Joel Embiid on their roster, are clearly looking to take the next step in their postseason development. Experienced former head coaches Monty Williams, Mike D’Antoni, Mike Budenholzer and Frank Vogel , plus longtime assistant coach Sam Cassell, are also rumored to be on Philadelphia’s shortlist.

Sasha Vezenkov Named 2022/23 EuroLeague MVP

May 18th, 2023 at 8:01am CST by Luke Adams

Kings draft-and-stash prospect Sasha Vezenkov has been named the Most Valuable Player in the EuroLeague for the 2022/23 season, the league formally announced today.

Vezenkov, a 6’9″ forward, was the EuroLeague’s leading scorer this season, averaging 17.2 points per game with an impressive .538/.385/.879 shooting line in 38 contests for the Greek team Olympiacos. He also grabbed 6.8 rebounds and handed out 1.8 assists per night.

Vezenkov’s strong play helped earn Olympiacos a spot in the EuroLeague Final Four, where they’ll face AS Monaco on Friday for the right to take on either Barcelona or Real Madrid for the EuroLeague championship on Sunday.

The Nets drafted Vezenkov with the 57th overall pick in the 2017 NBA draft, but his rights were flipped to Cleveland in the 2021 James Harden blockbuster and then to Sacramento last June in exchange for the No. 49 overall pick in the 2022 draft.

If Vezenkov is going to sign an NBA contract, he’ll have to do so with the Kings, and it sounds like there’s mutual interest between the two sides in making that happen this summer. The 27-year-old is under contract with Olympiacos beyond this season, but has a buyout clause in his deal that’s believed to be worth approximately 1.5 million Euros.

Wizards Interview Clippers’ Winger For Top Front Office Job

May 18th, 2023 at 7:30am CST by Luke Adams

The Wizards, who are seeking a new head of basketball operations, conducted an interview with Clippers general manager Michael Winger for the position, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.

Winger is at least the second candidate to meet with Wizards management and owner Ted Leonsis about the team’s top front office job, Wojnarowski writes. Pelicans general manager Trajan Langdon also interviewed with Washington.

Bucks assistant GM Milt Newton reportedly spoke to the Wizards too, though that was when the team was still said to be in the “information-gathering” stage of its search, so that conversation was presumably less formal.

Winger, who has worked under president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank in Los Angeles since 2017, has been an NBA executive for nearly two decades. He served as the Cavaliers’ director of basketball operations from 2005-10 and then was an assistant general manager with the Thunder under Sam Presti from 2010-17.

Although Winger has drawn interest from rival teams since joining the Clippers, he has consistently turned down those overtures. The Timberwolves, for instance, sought an interview with him when they were seeking a new head of basketball operations in 2019, but he opted to pass on that opportunity and remain in L.A.

Bob Myers, Warriors Still Far Apart On Extension

May 17th, 2023 at 10:46pm CST by Arthur Hill

It’s been months since the Warriors have engaged in contract extension talks with president of basketball operations Bob Myers and it appears increasingly likely that he may not remain with the team after his contract expires June 30, according to Shams Charania and Anthony Slater of The Athletic.

Sources tell Charania and Slater that there’s been no recent movement on a new deal for Myers, and they suggest that even an offer to make him one of the league’s highest-paid executives may not be enough to keep him with the team.

The authors’ sources say that Myers has been contacted about positions with private equity funds and roles with other sports leagues that may be more lucrative than what Golden State can offer. They also note that he has done some podcast work over the past year and may have interest in working in the media.

Myers could also be looking for a break from the stress of running an NBA team, as the Warriors reportedly offered him the option to take some time off if he decides to accept an extension.

Myers joined the organization in 2011 as an assistant general manager and was promoted to GM a year later. His personnel moves helped transform Golden State from a perennial loser to the most successful team of the past decade — the club has won four NBA titles since establishing its core of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.

Thompson, Green and head coach Steve Kerr have all been vocal about their desire to keep Myers, and their futures with the team could be affected by whether he decides to remain in his job. Thompson is eligible for an extension this summer, Green faces a decision on a $27.6MM player option for next season and Kerr has one year remaining on his contract.