Tristan Thompson To Miss Most Of Camp
Free agent addition Tristan Thompson will be sidelined for most of Celtics‘ training camp due to a strained hamstring, tweets Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Coach Brad Stevens is still optimistic that Thompson can be ready for the regular season opener December 23 against the Bucks.
The Celtics signed Thompson to a two-year, $19MM contract to help bolster their frontline. They revealed earlier this week that he suffered a minor injury to his hamstring during an offseason workout.
Thompson, 29, spent the first nine seasons of his career in Cleveland, where he made four trips to the NBA Finals. He became a free agent after averaging a career-best 12.0 points per game last season.
NBA Expands Health, Safety Guidelines
The NBA has expanded its “Health and Safety Protocol Guide” as it seeks to find ways to limit the impact of COVID-19 on its upcoming season while still allowing the players as much freedom as possible.
As ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski details in a series of tweets, players and staff in their home venues will not be allowed to enter bars, lounge or clubs; live entertainment or gaming venues (with limited exceptions), public gyms, spas or pools; or large indoor social gatherings of 15 or more people.
Traveling teams will be allowed in “approved restaurants” with outdoor seating or a “fully privatized space” indoors. The restaurants that meet those standards will be revealed at a later date.
The NBA will also provide twice-a-week testing for household members of players and staff in order to “enhance their protection throughout the season.”
These additional measures supplement the guidelines unveiled last month, which included protocols regarding testing, working out, practices and housing of players. It also stipulated teams must have additional staff to carry out testing and safety measures.
The league is planning on meting out strong punishments for violations, particularly those that cause schedule changes or impact other teams, Tim Bomtemps of ESPN tweets. Violators are subject to fines, suspensions, adjustment or loss of draft choices, and/or game forfeiture.
The league also spelled out what will happen when COVID-19 vaccines are FDA-approved and deemed safe and effective. At that time, the league and Players Association will decide whether players, coaches and staff will be compelled to get vaccinated. If there is no vaccine requirement, those who don’t receive it may have to follow additional safety measures, Bontemps details in another tweet.
More immediately, players, coaches and staff are being strong urged, though not compelled, to receive a flu vaccination, ESPN’s Zach Lowe tweets.
Spurs, Magic Planning To Host Fans In Arenas
As the beginning of the 2020/21 NBA season approaches, the Magic and Spurs have emerged as the latest teams with plans to host fans inside their arenas.
Orlando and San Antonio join the Jazz as teams to have announced they will allow spectators during the 2020/21 season. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic – and no longer playing in a campus setting – the league has stressed safety and health precautions.
The Spurs announced that the organization plans to welcome fans starting on January 1, 2021, for a matchup against the Lakers. Seating at the games will be “limited capacity, pending the status of public health data and guidelines.”
“We’ve been planning for this moment for months and are confident in the health and safety protocols we have in place,” said Spurs Sports & Entertainment CEO R.C. Buford. “Waiting until Jan. 1 will allow us to run through real in-game scenarios to ensure that we are doing everything possible to responsibly celebrate the start of a new season with our Spurs Family.”
As for the Magic, their press release states that plans are being made to host fans in a “socially distanced, limited capacity at the Amway Center.” First priority will be given to season ticket holders based on tenure and then fans who made a season ticket deposit. The team will also release tickets to the general public on a game-by-game basis.
“As we have said, the health and safety of everyone connected to our game will be top priority,” said Magic CEO Alex Martins. “Our goal is to make everyone feel comfortable that extensive safety precautions have been taken for the return to Amway Center. We continue to work through protocols as outlined by the NBA, CDC and local health officials and will use the preseason as a trial to assess and evaluate safety measures.”
The 2020/21 NBA season is scheduled to tip off on December 22.
Paul George: I Want To Retire A Clipper
Clippers forward Paul George is eligible to reach unrestricted free agency a year from now, but it doesn’t sound like he has any plans to jump ship. George told reporters today that he’s happy being home in Los Angeles and is “committed” to his current team.
“I want to retire a Clipper,” George said, per Ben Golliver of The Washington Post (Twitter link). “I’ll say that every year. This is where my heart is.”
The Clippers are George’s third NBA team, and he eventually asked his first two teams – the Pacers and Thunder – to trade him. So it’s fair to take his comments today with a grain of salt.
Still, George is a Southern California native and had long wanted to play in L.A. Unless the 2020/21 season ends in even worse fashion for the Clippers than ’19/20 did, there’s no reason at this point to expect the six-time All-Star to seek a new home in free agency — few other teams could realistically offer him a better shot at winning a title in the coming years.
George averaged 21.5 PPG and 5.7 RPG in 48 regular season games in his first season as a Clipper in 2019/20. Those numbers were his lowest in five years, but he was also coming off shoulder surgery and was limited to 29.6 minutes per contest, his lowest-full season average since his rookie year. He’s believed to be 100% entering this year’s training camp.
2020/21 NBA First-Half Schedules By Team
The NBA has officially unveiled its schedule of games and national broadcasts for the first half of the 2020/21 season. As previously reported, the season will tip off with a Nets vs. Warriors and Clippers vs. Lakers doubleheader on Tuesday, December 22.
The first half of the regular season will run through March 4. The schedule for the second half of the season (March 11 to May 16) will be released during the latter part of the first half, according to the league. The goal is to maintain scheduling flexibility to account for possible coronavirus-related postponements and/or cancellations.
In the first half, each team will play either 37 or 38 games, including between 17 and 20 home games. In a number of instances, teams will play the same opponent in the same arena in back-to-back games in order to reduce travel.
Listed below are links to the first-half 2020/21 schedules for each NBA team, organized by conference and division:
EASTERN CONFERENCE
Atlantic Division
Central Division
Southeast Division
WESTERN CONFERENCE
Northwest Division
Pacific Division
Southwest Division
Malik Monk Tested Positive For COVID-19
Hornets guard Malik Monk is among the NBA players who recently tested positive for COVID-19, head coach James Borrego said today (Twitter link via Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer).
Monk isn’t currently experiencing coronavirus symptoms, but will miss at least several more days of practice, Bonnell notes.
The 11th overall pick in the 2017 draft, Monk hasn’t been the scorer and shooter the Hornets hoped for through his first three NBA seasons, averaging just 8.6 PPG with a .322 3PT% in 191 total games. His 2019/20 season came to an early end when he was suspended indefinitely for violating the league’s anti-drug policy. He was reinstated from that ban in June.
Although Monk hasn’t been a consistently productive player in Charlotte, he was playing well leading up to his suspension, scoring 17.0 PPG on .457/.350/.851 shooting in his last 13 games (27.9 MPG) of the ’19/20 campaign. He and the Hornets had been hoping to carry over that success to ’20/21, but his coronavirus diagnosis will set him back a little.
The NBA announced on Wednesday that 48 players tested positive for the coronavirus between November 24-30, so there are several other dozen players besides Monk waiting to be medically cleared.
NBA Officially Suspends Random Marijuana Testing For 2020/21
The NBA has officially suspended random marijuana testing for the 2020/21 season, tweets Marc Stein of The New York Times.
Ben Dowsett first reported on Thursday that the league would continue to forgo those tests after scrapping them for the summer restart in Orlando. The NBA will only conduct “with cause” tests this season, sources tell Dowsett.
“Due to the unusual circumstances in conjunction with the pandemic, we have agreed with the NBPA to suspend random testing for marijuana for the 2020/21 season and focus our random testing program on performance-enhancing products and drugs of abuse,” league spokesperson Mike Bass said in a statement (Twitter link via Stein).
Although the coronavirus pandemic is being cited as the motivating factor for eliminating random marijuana tests in 2020/21, there’s no guarantee that the program will ever return in its previous form. As Dowsett writes in a feature for GQ.com, with the non-medical use of cannabis being decriminalized and legalized in more and more states, NBPA executive director Michele Roberts would like to see the testing program eventually removed from the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.
“I am absolutely confident (that) by next season – at the absolute latest by the time the next CBA is negotiated – this is going to be old news,” Roberts said of the NBA’s random marijuana testing.
Lakers Re-Sign Anthony Davis To Five-Year Max Contract
6:38pm: The Lakers have officially re-signed Davis to his new five-year max deal, the team announced in a press release.
“In the Orlando bubble, Anthony Davis proved he is one of the game’s most complete and dominant two-way players,” general manager Rob Pelinka said in a statement. “Now, Lakers fans get to watch AD continue to grow and lead our franchise for years to come. This is truly a blessed moment for Lakers Nation.”
6:44am: The Lakers are finalizing a five-year, maximum-salary contract with star big man Anthony Davis, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The deal could be signed as soon as today, Woj notes.
Davis’ new five-year contract will have an overall value of approximately $189.9MM. As our breakdown of maximum salaries for 2020/21 shows, AD will earn $32.74MM this season and will receive 8% raises, increasing the value to $43.22MM by year five. According to Wojnarowski, the deal will include an early termination option prior to that fifth year, giving the seven-time All-Star the chance to opt out in 2024.
Davis entered free agency as the No. 1 player on the market and was always expected to re-sign with the defending champion Lakers on a new max contract. However, there was an expectation that he’d take his time to consider all his options in terms of the length and structure of that deal.
Most league observers believed Davis would opt for a shorter-term contract that would allow him to re-enter free agency in 2022, when he has 10 years of NBA experience under his belt and qualifies for a starting salary worth 35% of the salary cap instead of 30%. As Wojnarowski writes, the former No. 1 overall pick did consider several short-term contract scenarios as well as long-term options.
Ultimately, as Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets, Davis opted for long-term security and the largest possible chunk of guaranteed money he was eligible to receive at this point. He’ll still only be 31 years old in 2024 when he can re-enter free agency, so he should be in good position to sign a new max deal – starting at 35% of the cap – at that point.
Davis’ contract agreement comes on the heels of LeBron James reaching a deal with the Lakers to extend his contract through 2023. A report in the wake of that news indicated that James and Davis were making their contract decisions independent of one another, and the terms of AD’s new deal offer further confirmation of that. Rather than having one or both of their superstars reach free agency in 2021, the Lakers now have James locked up through ’23 and Davis under contract through at least ’24.
In his first year as a Laker following his trade from New Orleans, Davis showed in 2019/20 why Los Angeles was willing to give up a massive haul of players and picks to acquire him. He averaged 26.1 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 3.2 APG, and 2.3 BPG in 62 regular season games (34.4 MPG), finishing sixth in Most Valuable Player voting. He was also the anchor of the Lakers’ defense and was the runner-up in the Defensive Player of the Year vote.
Having appeared in just 13 playoff games in his seven seasons prior to 2020, Davis came up big for L.A. during the team’s championship run, recording 27.7 PPG, 9.7 RPG, and 3.5 APG with an impressive .571/.383/.832 shooting line in 21 postseason contests.
With Davis officially off the board, all 50 of our top free agents of 2020 have now reached contract agreements with NBA teams.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Lakers Sign LeBron James To Contract Extension
DECEMBER 3: The Lakers have officially announced James’s contract extension in a press release.
“LeBron James is a transcendent basketball player, and human being,” GM Rob Pelinka said in a statement. “LeBron put his trust in the Lakers in 2018, and now this contract extension paves the way for LeBron to further solidify his legacy as an all-time Lakers great. We could not be more honored by this commitment.”
DECEMBER 2: The Lakers and LeBron James have agreed to terms on a two-year, maximum-salary contract extension, agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports tells Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports confirms (via Twitter) that an extension agreement is in place and that it will run through 2023. That means the new deal has essentially replaced LeBron’s 2021/22 player option with a guaranteed season and tacked one extra year onto his contract.
James, who has a $39,219,566 salary for 2020/21, can receive a 5% raise on that figure for the first year of his extension, which would result in a ’21/22 salary of $41,180,544, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). He can then receive an 8% raise for year two, which means a ’22/23 salary of $44,479,988. The end result would be a two-year extension worth about $85.66MM.
Assuming James prioritized maximizing his future earnings, his extension won’t include a player option for 2022/23.
As cap expert Albert Nahmad explains (via Twitter), the extension can only have included a new player option if LeBron technically picked up his existing ’21/22 option (worth $41,002,274) as part of the deal, which would limit the amount of his raise for ’22/23. CBA rules prohibit him from declining that option and then signing an extension that includes fewer than two guaranteed seasons.
Either way, LeBron will no longer be eligible to opt out in 2021, taking one huge name off next year’s free agent market. It’s not clear whether James’ extension will influence what Anthony Davis‘s next contract looks like — ESPN’s Brian Windhorst says the Lakers’ two superstars are making their decisions independent of one another.
As Charania (Twitter link) and others have noted, LeBron’s son Bronny James is scheduled to graduate high school in 2023. If the NBA and NBPA have agreed to scrap the one-and-done rule by that point, it could open the door for Bronny to enter the 2023 draft and team up with LeBron during the ’23/24 season.
The elder James will turn 36 years old later this month, but has shown no signs of slowing down yet. In 2019/20, he averaged 25.3 PPG and 7.8 RPG to go along with a league-high 10.2 APG in 67 games (34.6 MPG). He earned First Team All-NBA honors, finished second in MVP voting, led the Lakers to a championship, and won his fourth NBA Finals MVP award.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NBA Targeting March 25 For 2021 Trade Deadline
The NBA has its eye on Thursday, March 25 for this season’s trade deadline, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). While that’s the tentative plan, the date will still need to be approved by the league’s Board of Governors, Charania notes.
In recent years, the trade deadline has landed in early February. However, in those instances, the season was tipping off in mid-October and ending in early- to mid-April. In 2020/21, the regular season will run from December 22 to May 16.
A March 25 is still a little later in the season than usual, coming well after the league-wide salary guarantee date (February 27) and after the dates when recently-signed players will be trade-eligible (February 6 and March 3).
[RELATED: Details on new dates, deadlines for 2020/21]
It would fall a couple weeks before the April 9 deadline for players to be waived by one team and retain playoff eligibility for a new club.