Suns Pondering Trade For Chris Paul
The Suns have had discussions about acquiring Chris Paul from the Thunder, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps.
Talks between the parties have gained traction but there is no deal imminent, according to the ESPN duo. A moratorium on trades remains in place until next week.
Phoenix’s interest in the 35-year-old point guard is somewhat surprising, considering it already has a veteran point guard in Ricky Rubio playing alongside franchise player Devin Booker. Rubio has two years and $34.8MM remaining on his contract.
Phoenix’s interest in Paul shows how badly it wants to end its long playoff drought. The Suns have gone 10 seasons without reaching the postseason.
Paul has a $41.4MM salary on the books for next season with a $44.2MM player option for the 2021/22 campaign. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, Phoenix would have to cobble together at least $33.05MM in outgoing salary – if acting as an over-the-cap team – to make a trade happen. Rubio’s contract, plus Kelly Oubre‘s $14.4MM expiring contract, would put the Suns close to that figure.
In terms of 2020 draft capital, the Suns own the No. 10 overall selection while the Thunder sit at No. 25.
The Thunder front office has given star players input on possible trade destinations in the past and presumably are extending Paul the same courtesy. Paul played the 2010/11 season under Suns coach Monty Williams in New Orleans.
Depending on the structure of a trade, the Suns could still have significant cap space — somewhere in the $20MM range — to pursue free agents.
Team Owners Vote To Approve New CBA
This afternoon, NBA team owners unanimously voted to ratify the amended Collective Bargaining Agreement agreed upon late last night by the league and the NBPA, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
The NBA’s Board of Governors, which is comprised of the 30 NBA team owners and their reps plus league commissioner Adam Silver, held a conference call this afternoon, and the agreement will now allow the 2020/21 season to kick off on December 22.
As we detailed earlier today, the updated CBA will contain the same $109,140,000 salary cap and $132,627,000 luxury tax line as the 2019/20 season. The ’20/21 season will last for 72 games, and free agency will kick off next Friday, November 20.
Currently, there is still a moratorium on trades, but that is expected to be lifted two or three days ahead of the November 18 draft. Luxury tax penalties will be reduced for taxpaying teams if the league’s basketball related income declines.
Tommy Heinsohn Passes Away At Age 86
Tommy Heinsohn, a Hall-of-Famer who has been part of the NBA and involved with the Celtics for more than six decades, has died, according to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. He was 86 years old.
A power forward as an NBA player, Heinsohn was a member of the Celtics’ roster from 1956 through 1965, winning eight titles and making six All-Star teams during that time while posting career averages of 18.6 PPG and 8.8 RPG in 654 games. He was also named the league’s Rookie of the Year in 1957 and helped form the National Basketball Players Association. The franchise retired his jersey (No. 15) after he hung up his sneakers.
Heinsohn later served as the head coach in Boston from 1969 to 1978, leading the Celtics to two more titles during that time and earning NBA Coach of the Year honors in 1973.
For the last four decades, Heinsohn has been a commentator for Celtics games, serving as a play-by-play man, color analyst, and in-studio analyst over the years. He established himself as one of the most recognizable local personalities in the NBA during that time.
“This is a devastating loss,” Wyc Grousbeck and the Celtics’ ownership group said today in a statement. “Tommy was the ultimate Celtic. For the past 18 years, our ownership group has relied hugely on Tommy’s advice and insights and have reveled in his hundreds of stories about Red Auerbach, Bill Russell, and how the Celtics became a dynasty. He will be remembered forever.”
Our condolences go out to Heinsohn’s friends and family.
Official Early Entrants List For 2020 NBA Draft
The NBA has officially announced that 84 early entrant prospects will be eligible to be selected in the 2020 NBA draft next Wednesday. Of those early entrants, 71 are players from college or other educational institutions, while the remaining 13 are international prospects.
Although the number of early entrants is higher than the number of picks in the draft (60), the list of early entrants is still significantly smaller than it was at the NBA’s initial entry deadline in April. At that point, 205 early entrants had declared for the draft. After testing the waters, more than half of those players withdrew their names
Here’s the complete list of early entrant prospects eligible for the 2020 NBA draft:
College Players:
- Precious Achiuwa, F, Memphis (freshman)
- Milan Acquaah, G, California Baptist (junior)
- Ty-Shon Alexander, G, Creighton (junior)
- Cole Anthony, G, North Carolina (freshman)
- Brendan Bailey, F, Marquette (sophomore)
- Saddiq Bey, F, Villanova (sophomore)
- Tyler Bey, F, Colorado (junior)
- Jermaine Bishop, G, Norfolk State (junior)
- Dachon Burke, G, Nebraska (junior)
- Vernon Carey Jr., C, Duke (freshman)
- Nate Darling, G, Delaware (junior)
- Lamine Diane, F, Cal State Northridge (sophomore)
- Devon Dotson, G, Kansas (sophomore)
- Anthony Edwards, G, Georgia (freshman)
- CJ Elleby, F, Washington State (sophomore)
- Malik Fitts, F, Saint Mary’s (junior)
- Malachi Flynn, G, San Diego State (junior)
- Josh Green, G/F, Arizona (freshman)
- Ashton Hagans, G, Kentucky (sophomore)
- Tyrese Haliburton, G, Iowa State (sophomore)
- Josh Hall, F, Moravian Prep (N/A)
- Rayshaun Hammonds, F, Georgia (junior)
- Jalen Harris, G, Nevada (junior)
- Niven Hart, G, Fresno State (freshman)
- Nate Hinton, G/F, Houston (sophomore)
- Elijah Hughes, G/F, Syracuse (junior)
- Isaiah Joe, G, Arkansas (sophomore)
- Dakari Johnson, G, Cape Fear CC (freshman)
- C.J. Jones, G, Middle Tennessee (junior)
- Mason Jones, G, Arkansas (junior)
- Tre Jones, G, Duke (sophomore)
- Saben Lee, G, Vanderbilt (junior)
- Michael Lenoir, G, Creating Young Minds Academy (N/A)
- Kira Lewis, G, Alabama (sophomore)
- Nico Mannion, G, Arizona (freshman)
- Naji Marshall, F, Xavier (junior)
- Kenyon Martin Jr., F, IMG Academy (N/A)
- Tyrese Maxey, G, Kentucky (freshman)
- Jaden McDaniels, F, Washington (freshman)
- Isiaha Mike, F, SMU (junior)
- EJ Montgomery, F, Kentucky (sophomore)
- Aaron Nesmith, G, Vanderbilt (sophomore)
- Zeke Nnaji, F, Arizona (freshman)
- Jordan Nwora, F, Louisville (junior)
- Nikolaos Okekuoyen, C, Ridgeview Prep (N/A)
- Onyeka Okongwu, F/C, USC (freshman)
- Isaac Okoro, F, Auburn (freshman)
- Daniel Oturu, C, Minnesota (sophomore)
- Reggie Perry, F, Mississippi State (sophomore)
- Nate Pierre-Louis, G, Temple (junior)
- Immanuel Quickley, G, Kentucky (sophomore)
- Jahmi’us Ramsey, G, Texas Tech (freshman)
- Paul Reed, F, DePaul (junior)
- Nick Richards, F/C, Kentucky (junior)
- Jay Scrubb, G, John A. Logan College (sophomore)
- Jalen Smith, F, Maryland (sophomore)
- Cassius Stanley, G, Duke (freshman)
- Isaiah Stewart, F/C, Washington (freshman)
- Tyrell Terry, G, Stanford (freshman)
- Xavier Tillman, F/C, Michigan State (junior)
- Obi Toppin, F, Dayton (sophomore)
- Jordan Tucker, F, Butler (sophomore)
- Devin Vassell, G, Florida State (sophomore)
- Nick Weatherspoon, G, Mississippi State (junior)
- Kaleb Wesson, F/C, Ohio State (junior)
- Kahlil Whitney, F, Kentucky (freshman)
- Emmitt Williams, F, LSU (sophomore)
- Patrick Williams, F, Florida State (freshman)
- James Wiseman, C, Memphis (freshman)
- Robert Woodard II, F, Mississippi State (sophomore)
- Omer Yurtseven, C, Georgetown (junior)
International Players:
Note: The country indicates where the player had been playing, not necessarily where he was born.
- Deni Avdija, F, Israel (born 2001)
- Adrian Bogucki, C, Poland (born 2000)
- Leandro Bolmaro, F, Spain (born 2000)
- Imru Duke, F, Spain (born 1999)
- Paul Eboua, F, Italy (born 2000)
- Killian Hayes, G, Germany (born 2001)
- Vit Krejci, G, Spain (born 2000)
- Yam Madar, G, Israel (born 2000)
- Theo Maledon, G, France (born 2001)
- Karim Mane, G, Canada (born 2000)
- Aleksej Pokusevski, F, Greece (born 2001)
- Marko Simonovic, C, Serbia (born 1999)
- Mouhamed Thiam, C, France (born 2001)
The NBA’s list of early entrants includes one name that we had missed previously: Ridgeview Prep big man Nikolaos Okekuoyen. He wasn’t on the NBA’s list following the adjusted early entry deadline in August, so presumably the league determined after the fact that he got his paperwork completed on time.
Tony Goodwin II, Osas Ehigiator, Miguel Gonzalez, Sehmus Hazer, Arturs Kurucs, Caio Pacheco, Sander Raieste, Njegos Sikiras, Aboubacar Traore, and Uros Trifunovic are among the players withdrawing from the draft since our last check-in.
For details on which other prospects originally declared for the draft, then withdrew their names, be sure to check out our previous unofficial early entrant list.
NBA, NBPA Agree To Amended CBA; Free Agency To Begin Nov. 20
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association have reached an agreement on an amended Collective Bargaining Agreement in advance of the 2020/21 league year, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim Bontemps. The league and union issued a press release confirming the news.
As a result of the agreement, free agency will begin on 6:00 pm eastern time on Friday, November 20, less than 48 hours after the November 18 draft. After a brief moratorium, signings will officially be permitted starting on Sunday, November 22 at 12:01 pm.
Here are several of the other highlights of the new deal:
- As expected, the regular season will begin on December 22 and there will be a 72-game schedule. The full schedule will be released at a later date.
- The salary cap will once again be $109,140,000 and the luxury tax line will be $132,627,000. Those are the same numbers as in 2019/20. As a result, figures like minimum and maximum salaries and mid-level/bi-annual amounts will remain the same.
- The NBA will reduce the luxury tax bill of taxpaying teams at the end of 2020/21 season by the percentage amount that the league’s Basketball Related Income falls short of its initial projections. For instance, a 30% decline in BRI would result in a 30% reduction of a taxpayer’s bill — say, from $10MM to $7MM. This should benefit projected taxpayers such as the Warriors, Nets, Celtics, and Sixers, among others.
- The cap will increase by a minimum of 3% per year and a maximum of 10% per year through the rest of the current CBA. For 2021/22, that means the cap will be at least $112,414,200, and could be as high as $120,054,000.
- The standard 10% of player salaries will continue to be held in escrow for the time being. Any necessary salary reductions will be spread out over next season and the following two seasons, but players can never have more than 20% of their salaries withheld in a single season.
The NBA’s transaction freeze remains in place for now, but the expectation is that it will be lifted early next week, perhaps two or three days before the November 18 draft, according to Bontemps and Wojnarowski (Twitter link). Once that freeze ends, teams will be permitted to formally finalize trades and other roster moves.
The league is also expected to soon announce new dates and deadlines for player/team option decisions, certain salary guarantees, qualifying offer decisions, and the expiration of trade exceptions.
Sixers Officially Announce Coaching Staff
The Sixers have officially announced Doc Rivers‘ new coaching staff, confirming today in a press release that Dave Joerger, Sam Cassell, Dan Burke, Popeye Jones, and Brian Adams have been hired as assistants. All five assistant coach additions were reported in the past few weeks.
In addition to those five hirings, the 76ers are retaining Eric Hughes as an assistant, hiring Pete Dominguez as a coaching associate, and giving Todor Pandov the role of assistant coach/performance director.
“After taking this job, one of my top priorities was forming the best staff in the NBA,” Rivers said in a statement. “I’m thrilled with the way it came together as this group boasts years of valuable NBA experience, both playing and coaching, and each member brings a championship-level mindset to the table. I’m confident in my staff’s ability to best support our players and look forward to getting into the lab with our team as soon as we get the green light.”
Joerger, Cassell, and Burke are the most notable additions to Rivers’ staff. Joerger is a former NBA head coach, having compiled a 245-247 (.498) record with the Kings and Grizzlies from 2013-19; Cassell is a veteran assistant who was a member of Rivers’ staff in Los Angeles and received some head coaching buzz this year; and Burke is a highly respected defensive specialist who spent the last two-plus decades in Indiana.
Multiple Western Teams Mull Pursuit Of Spencer Dinwiddie
Multiple contending teams in the Western Conference have had internal discussions in which they expressed interest in trading for Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie, sources tell Ian Begley of SNY.tv.
Presumably, Dinwiddie could be had as part of a package if a club is willing to send a star player to Brooklyn. However, it’s unclear whether the Nets would seriously consider moving the veteran guard in a smaller trade this fall, Begley writes. A contending team with interest in Dinwiddie is unlikely to want to give up an impact player of its own in any deal.
As NetsDaily notes (via Twitter), ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said in a recent podcast that there’s an expectation around the NBA that Dinwiddie may be available in the right offseason deal, but Windhorst sounded unconvinced that the Nets will actively shop the 27-year-old.
Dinwiddie is coming off a season in which he averaged a career-high 20.6 PPG and 6.8 APG in 64 games (31.2 MPG). There will be fewer touches to go around in 2020/21, with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving back in the lineup and Caris LeVert still in the mix. Still, Dinwiddie could be an important insurance policy in the backcourt, given Irving’s and LeVert’s injury histories.
Dinwiddie’s contract situation is worth keeping an eye on too. He’s entering a potential contract year – he holds a player option for 2021/22 – and it remains to be seen whether the Nets will be willing to sign him to a lucrative new contract a year from now — the team projects to be in the tax, assuming Joe Harris gets a new deal this offseason. If Dinwiddie isn’t assured of a long-term role in Brooklyn, a trade becomes a more realistic possibility.
While Begley’s report doesn’t identify the Western teams that have discussed Dinwiddie, there are at least a couple clubs that would make sense as potential suitors. The Clippers are one, as they’re known to be in the market for a play-making point guard. The Lakers would also make sense, particularly if they lose Rajon Rondo in free agency.
Davis Bertans Expected To Draw Sign-And-Trade Interest
Wizards forward Davis Bertans is expected to have plenty of options in free agency this fall. Washington considers re-signing Bertans its top priority, and a previous report suggested that the Knicks, Hawks, and Suns are expected to have interest in the sharpshooting big man.
In addition to those teams with cap space, at least three over-the-cap clubs are preparing to make sign-and-trade offers for Bertans, according to Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington. While the identity of those teams isn’t known, Hughes’ source says there are two in the Eastern Conference and one in the West.
Bertans, who turns 28 this Thursday, opted out of the NBA’s restart due to his history of ACL injuries and a desire to preserve his value for his upcoming free agency. Before that, he had enjoyed a career year in 2019/20 during his first season as a Wizard, averaging a career-best 15.4 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 1.7 APG in 54 games (29.3 MPG).
Bertans also had his best shooting season, making an impressive 42.4% of 8.7 three-point attempts per game. His rare combination of size and shot-making ability will make him an intriguing target for teams seeking a big man who can stretch the floor, and he’s widely expected to command a contract that exceeds the mid-level exception. That means over-the-cap teams that want to land him would have no choice but to pursue a sign-and-trade deal.
According to Hughes, Washington will get the first meeting with Bertans later this month and will have the first shot to lock him up. While the Wizards don’t project to have any cap room, they’ll hold Bertans’ Bird rights, meaning they can go over the cap to re-sign him. They turned down offers for him at the trade deadline, so they’ll be motivated to get something done.
If Bertans decides he wants to leave D.C., a team with cap room would be able to sign him outright, in which case the Wizards would lose him for nothing. In a sign-and-trade scenario, both Bertans and Washington would have to sign off on the deal, which would give the Wizards a little leverage to recoup some value.
It’s also worth noting that any team acquiring a player via sign-and-trade would be hard-capped at the tax apron (approximately $139MM) for the rest of the 2020/21 league year. For a team like Boston – which had interest in Bertans at last season’s trade deadline – that could be a real obstacle, as the Celtics already project to be a taxpayer next year.
Clippers Finalizing Deals With Billups, Drew
The Clippers are finalizing deals with Chauncey Billups and Larry Drew to have them join head coach Tyronn Lue‘s staff as assistants, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
Both Billups and Drew have long been expected to join the Clippers, who fired longtime head coach Doc Rivers in September after seven seasons. Along with Billups and Drew, former Nets coach Kenny Atkinson and Heat assistant Dan Craig are also expected to join the team for next season.
Billups, a 17-year NBA veteran, worked for the Clippers as a broadcaster during the 2019/20 season and shares a close relationship with Lue. This will be his first coaching job since retiring back in 2014.
Drew, a well-respected assistant with the Cavaliers, spent the past six years in Cleveland. He was part of the 2016 Cavs’ championship team led by LeBron James, previously serving in assistant coaching roles with the Lakers, Pistons, Wizards, Nets and Hawks from 1992-2013. He also served as head coach of the Bucks during the 2013/14 season.
The Clippers finished with a 49-23 record last year and were eliminated by the Nuggets in the second round of the playoffs after a seven-game duel.
Lakers Expected To Target Serge Ibaka
The Lakers are expected to target veteran forward Serge Ibaka in free agency this year, Sean Deveney of Heavy.com reports, citing league executives.
Ibaka, 31, averaged 15.4 points, 8.2 rebounds and 27 minutes per game for the Raptors last season, proving his worth as a frontcourt option off the bench or as a starter. He holds 11 seasons of NBA experience, making stops with Oklahoma City and Orlando before reaching Toronto via trade in 2017.
Deveney suggests that the Raptors are still probably the favorites to sign Ibaka this fall, but that the big man may be willing to leave for a chance to compete for a championship elsewhere. The Celtics, Clippers, Heat, Mavericks, and Trail Blazers are among the other clubs expected to have interest, per Deveney, though the defending champions could probably give Ibaka the best chance to play for a title.
“From a personnel standpoint, he is exactly the kind of combo big guy that team (the Lakers) needs,” one general manager said. “They have had interest in him before and they will again. When he is healthy he is an excellent spot starter at the 5 (center) and the 4 (power forward). He is as good a bench big guy as there is in the league. He was a really credible 3-point threat last year. If he is willing to accept what the Lakers can afford to give him, I know they would want him.”
The Lakers own a mid-level exception worth $9.3MM, though it’s unclear whether the team prefers to spend it on one player or split it among multiple free agents. L.A. is coming off its first title since 2010 and has several players set to reach free agency, including Dwight Howard and Markieff Morris.
Anthony Davis ($28.75MM), Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ($8.49MM), Avery Bradley ($5MM), JaVale McGee ($4.2MM) and Rajon Rondo ($2.69MM) also have player options, with Davis expected to re-sign after opting out and Rondo and Caldwell-Pope both likely to decline their options.
The NBA plans to start free agency shortly after the Nov. 18 draft, though exact details remain unknown.