Wizards, Bulls Rebuffing Overtures For Beal, LaVine
Bradley Beal and Zach LaVine have been “hot names” around the NBA as potential trade targets, but the Wizards and Bulls are rebuffing overtures for their respective leading scorers, says Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
The fact that the Wizards aren’t showing any interest in moving Beal comes as no surprise, as that has been the team’s stance ever since general manager Tommy Sheppard was hired in 2019. Sheppard reiterated on Tuesday that Beal “isn’t going anywhere” this fall.
LaVine’s status hasn’t been the subject of quite as much speculation as Beal’s, and the new decision makers in Chicago – led by president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas – haven’t given many hints about their plans. Based on Goodwill’s report though, it sounds like the team is looking to hang onto LaVine, who has two years and $39MM left on his team-friendly contract.
According to Goodwill, the Sixers have been one of the many teams kicking the tires on Beal and LaVine.
Earlier today, Jason Dumas of KRON4 News reported (via Twitter) that there’s a growing belief within the 76ers’ front office that the team won’t have a shot at acquiring Rockets star James Harden without including Ben Simmons. Dumas suggested that new president of basketball operations Daryl Morey is working on something else “significant” that would allow the team to keep both Simmons and Joel Embiid.
Beal and LaVine, who both provide play-making abilities, are the sorts of targets that would make sense for Philadelphia. However, with the Wizards and Bulls reportedly resisting offers, any “significant” move by Morey and the Sixers seems unlikely to include either Beal or LaVine.
Teams will continue to monitor Beal’s and LaVine’s situations on draft night and beyond, tweets Goodwill.
Joe Harris Still Considered Likely To Re-Sign With Nets
Teams monitoring Joe Harris‘ free agency “firmly believe” that he’ll end up re-signing with the Nets, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv. Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer also reported this week that Harris appears likely to remain in Brooklyn.
While the Nets are the frontrunners for the free agent sharpshooter, they’ll face competition. Begley writes that the Hawks and Hornets will be among the many teams interested in Harris. Atlanta and Charlotte are two of the only teams that will have the cap space necessary to offer Harris a deal worth more than the mid-level exception ($9.3MM) without requiring a sign-and-trade.
Two executives who spoke to Begley estimated that Harris could end up with a deal in the range of $16-20MM annually. Teams with interest in the 29-year-old believe he could get a four-year offer from Brooklyn, Begley adds.
If, for whatever reason, the market for Harris isn’t quite as hot as expected, the Knicks – another team projected to have cap room – will have interest too, but that’s unlikely, writes Begley.
Re-signing Harris would push the Nets well into tax territory, but he’s an important piece in a rotation that features ball-dominant players like Kevin Durant Kyrie Irving, and Caris LeVert. Harris doesn’t need the ball a lot and is a reliable floor spacer and knock-down shooter, having made 43.9% of his three-point attempts over the last three seasons.
Cavs Discussing No. 5 Pick With Knicks, Others
The Cavaliers are receiving interest in the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, who reports that the Pistons (No. 7), Knicks (No. 8), and Celtics (No. 14) are among the teams that have engaged in discussions with Cleveland.
The Knicks just moved up from No. 27 to No. 23 in a trade with Utah and may try to package that pick with No. 8 in an attempt to improve their lottery pick, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Knicks and Cavs have been the two teams in the top eight most frequently connected to Dayton forward Obi Toppin, so it’s possible he could be the target on New York’s radar in a move up, though that’s not confirmed.
The Pistons, meanwhile, have been linked often to Florida State’s Patrick Williams. If he’s still on the board at No. 5, Detroit may have interest in moving up to land him — or to leapfrog Atlanta at No. 6 for Tyrese Haliburton, Fedor suggests.
According to Fedor, the Cavs have their eye on a number of players in the second tier of the draft, including Toppin, Haliburton, Deni Avdija, and Isaac Okoro, among others. Moving down to No. 7 or No. 8 could allow them to “declutter their options” while picking up an extra asset or two.
It’s unclear how interested the Cavaliers would be in moving all the way down to No. 14, which is Boston’s top first-rounder. Cleveland sees a drop in talent after the top 10 or 11 prospects in this year’s draft class, says Fedor. There has been some speculation about a possible Gordon Hayward trade involving the Cavs and Celtics, but it’s not clear if that’s something the two sides have even discussed.
Jazz Trade No. 23 Pick To Knicks For Nos. 27, 38
9:07am: The trade is official, the Knicks announced in a press release.
8:32am: The Knicks have moved up four spots late in the first round of the 2020 NBA draft, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports that the team is sending the 27th and 38th overall picks to the Jazz in exchange for No. 23.
New York will also receive the rights to 2008 second-rounder Ante Tomic in the deal, Wojnarowski adds. However, Tomic is not expected to join the NBA at any point.
The timing of the move is interesting, as this sort of deal is typically completed during the draft, when teams have a better sense of which players will be available – or unavailable – when they’re on the clock.
The Knicks may have felt they needed to leapfrog a team in the 24-26 range to target a specific player, or may have other plans in mind for the No. 23 pick. For now, they’ll enter tonight’s draft holding the eighth and 23rd overall selections.
As for the Jazz, they clearly have enough players they like in the 20s to feel comfortable pulling the trigger on this deal early. They’ll acquire a second-round pick whom they’ll likely be able to sign at or near the rookie minimum. Utah previously traded away its own second-rounder.
Mavs’ Willie Cauley-Stein To Decline Player Option
Mavericks center Willie Cauley-Stein will turn down his $2.29MM player option for the 2020/21 season and become an unrestricted free agent, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. A report earlier this week had indicated that Cauley-Stein may be leaning in that direction.
Cauley-Stein signed a two-year deal with the Warriors last summer that was worth a little more than the minimum, with a second-year player option. However, after 41 games in Golden State, he was dealt to Dallas, where he finished the season. In total, he appeared in 54 games, averaging 7.2 PPG and 5.8 RPG in 20.3 minutes per contest.
There’s a little risk involved in the decision for Cauley-Stein, who would take a pay cut if he has to settle for a minimum-salary contract in free agency this time around — his minimum would be worth about $1.88MM.
It’s not clear if his decision is a signal that he’s seeking a raise or if he just wasn’t enthusiastic about returning to Dallas, where his playing time slipped to a career-low 12.1 MPG and he mostly fell out of the club’s rotation down the stretch.
Cauley-Stein is one of two Mavericks veterans holding a player option for the 2020/21 season. The other – Tim Hardaway Jr. – is considered likely to opt in.
Bulls Have Reportedly Offered No. 4 Pick, Carter For Warriors’ No. 2
The Warriors are weighing whether or not to accept a trade offer from the Bulls, according to Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, who hears from league sources that Chicago has put the No. 4 pick and Wendell Carter Jr. on the table for Golden State’s No. 2 pick.
Although O’Connor has reported multiple times that Chicago is believed to be targeting a play-maker in this draft, he says that sources believe the Bulls would draft Memphis center James Wiseman if they move up. Wiseman has been considered the most likely target for Golden State at No. 2.
If the Bulls don’t trade up, the belief is that they’ll likely decide between Avdija and Florida State forward Patrick Williams, according to O’Connor.
It remains to be seen if the Bulls and Warriors will move forward on this reported proposal, but it does align with some other things we’ve heard in recent weeks. For instance, Jonathan Givony of ESPN said earlier in November that Chicago is thought to be higher on Lauri Markkanen than Carter. At the time, Givony suggested Carter may have to be involved in a deal for the Bulls to move up in the draft.
Meanwhile, a league source told Connor Letourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle this week that the Warriors would like to trade the No. 2 pick for a “proven, rotation-level frontcourt player” and a pick later in the lottery. The goal would be to add a frontcourt player who could be relied upon in the postseason, while developing a young guard or wing, says Letourneau.
If the Warriors do trade out of the top three, they’d likely target Israeli forward Deni Avdija, according to Letourneau, who says the club has become “infatuated” with Avdija, viewing him as a player who could develop into a “Danilo Gallinari type.” Florida State wing Devin Vassell is another player who has frequently been linked to Golden State in trade-down scenarios. Iowa State guard Tyrese Haliburton could also be an option.
If the Warriors were to acquire Carter from the Bulls, they could either absorb his $5.4MM cap hit into their $17MM+ trade exception or send out a player or two for salary-matching purposes.
Details On 2020/21 Season, Play-In Tournament Announced By NBA
The NBA has announced details on the revamped schedule for the 2020/21 season, including a confirmation that there will be a play-in tournament between the No. 7-10 seeds in both conferences for the first time (Twitter link).
The league has noted that it will release the dates for its individual game schedule in two portions. The NBA did release its plan for the schedule in a matrix grid, per Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic (Twitter link), though it will not announce the specific dates of its matchups until “around the start of training camp.” The second half of 2020/21 is set to be announced during the season’s first half.
Still, we now know several of the nuances for the NBA’s 75th season. For the 72 regular season games in this truncated season, teams will play three games against all teams within their own conference, and two against teams in the other conference.
Here are the set dates for the NBA season as they stand presently:
- December 11-19, 2020: Preseason
- December 22, 2020 – March 4, 2021: The first half of the NBA’s regular season
- March 5-10, 2021: The NBA All-Star break
- March 11 – May 16, 2021: The second half of the regular season
- May 18-21, 2021: Play-In Tournament
- May 22 – July 22, 2021: NBA Playoffs
The league went on to note that the second half of the season, set to commence after the All-Star break concludes on March 11, 2021, will not only include the scheduled games, but also “any games postponed [due to COVID-19 issues] during the first half that can reasonably be added to the second half schedule.”
As for the play-in tournament, it’ll pit the seventh- and eighth-best teams in each conference against one another, with the winner earning the No. 7 seed. The loser of that game will face the winner of a matchup between the ninth- and 10th-best teams. The winner of that contest will become the No. 8 seed.
Hawks, Gordon Hayward May Have Mutual Interest
The Hawks may try to add Celtics forward Gordon Hayward, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. Sources tell Haynes that Hayward has generated “plenty of interest.”
Hayward currently has a decision to make on his $34.2MM player option for the 2020/21 season. Earlier today, it was reported that he and Boston mutually agreed to extend his deadline on making a decision on the final year of his contract to November 19.
Hayward could be added in a variety of ways, though it seems most likely that he would join a new club either in a sign-and-trade or an outright free agency signing. Sources told Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) earlier today that a Hayward trade would most likely be done through a sign-and-trade with the Celtics, as teams with interest in Hayward’s services would want the forward beyond the 2020/21 season. However, Atlanta is one of the few teams with the cap room necessary to sign Hayward outright.
With $44MM in their coffers, the Hawks currently have the most salary cap availability in the NBA. Haynes notes that the 6’7″ Hayward, 30, could fulfill the desire of GM Travis Schlenk and the Hawks front office to add a secondary playmaker to spell All-Star point guard Trae Young. Hayward could serve as a nice veteran front court fit alongside sharpshooting power forward John Collins.
As we have previously relayed, the Hawks might also be pursuing Lakers point guard Rajon Rondo, whose terrific postseason play helped Los Angeles secure the 2020 NBA title.
John Hollinger of The Athletic (Twitter link) notes that a Hayward sign-and-trade deal with the Hawks would benefit the Celtics in that it could carve out a significant trade exception, space into which Boston could build out its roster depth.
Rockets, Wizards Have Explored A Westbrook-Wall Flip
The Wizards and the Rockets have talked about making a star-studded point guard swap, having explored trading former All-Star point guard John Wall for current All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium (Twitter link). Charania notes that Houston currently desires additional pieces in the deal, and that there is “no traction” for the trade just yet.
Wall, 30, has not played in an NBA game for the Wizards since December 26, 2018, felled by a series of injuries, including a torn Achilles. Westbrook, 32, recently requested a trade out of Houston following his inaugural season with the team.
Were this potential move to materialize, it could indicate that the Wizards are striving to improve their roster to entice star shooting guard Bradley Beal, 27, to stay with the team and not ask for a trade himself. Beal has two guaranteed years and $63.25MM left on his contract, with a $37.3MM player option for the 2022/23 season.
Though Rockets star guard Westbrook is not much of a floor spacer, his dynamic scoring, passing and rebounding – plus his consistent on-court availability – could greatly help the Wizards, a team that finished the 2019/20 season just outside the Eastern Conference playoff picture with the No. 9 seed.
Conversely, trading the relatively active Westbrook to the Wizards for the oft-hurt Wall could indicate a willingness from the Rockets front office to consider James Harden trade offers, after their MVP-caliber guard requested a trade of his own.
Westbrook and Wall’s contracts are remarkably similar in terms of length and price, though obviously the on-court risks associated with adding Wall are significantly greater. Assuming Westbrook opts in to the final year of his contract with the Rockets, Westbrook has three seasons and $132.6MM remaining. Wall has three years and $132.9MM left on his deal, assuming he opts into the final year of his own deal with the Wizards.
Celtics, Gordon Hayward Extend Option Decision Deadline
2:57pm: The Celtics and Hayward have officially pushed back his option decision deadline to Thursday at 3:00 pm ET, according to Lowe and Tim Bontemps of ESPN.
2:50pm: The Celtics and forward Gordon Hayward are working to extend the deadline for him to decide whether or not he’ll exercise his $34.2MM player option for the 2020/21 season, according to Zach Lowe of ESPN (Twitter link).
Hayward’s contract calls for that decision to be finalized by 5:00 pm eastern time today. Lowe says the two sides plan to push it back to Thursday at 5:00 pm, which is when most other team and player option decisions are due.
Hayward, 30, had a solid bounce-back season in Boston in 2019/20, averaging 17.5 PPG, 6.7 RPG, and 4.1 APG on .500/.383/.855 shooting in 52 games (33.5 MPG). He was slowed by a sprained ankle in the playoffs, but showed during the regular season that he can still be a very productive NBA starter.
While it seems unlikely that Hayward would be able to match his $34.2MM option salary in free agency, a new long-term deal that reduces his 2020/21 salary while significantly increasing his overall guarantee is a possibility. That’s the route Al Horford took a year ago, turning down a $30MM option to secure a four-year contract that guaranteed him $97MM.
There has been buzz lately that Hayward isn’t a lock to opt into the final year of his deal, and today’s news is the latest indication that his decision may not be as simple as picking up that option. As John Hollinger of The Athletic observes (via Twitter), it’s rare for a team and player to agree to push back a deadline like this unless something is up that involves both the team and the player.
Given that Hayward has already been the subject of some trade rumors this year, it’s fair to view him as a potential trade candidate this week. A new deal with Boston is also a possibility.