Details On Giannis’ Meeting With Marc Lasry
After Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported over the weekend that Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo met with franchise co-owner Marc Lasry to discuss the direction of the franchise, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has provided a few details on that meeting.
According to Wojnarowski, the three-hour lunch meeting covered both the 2019/20 season and how the Bucks can improve their roster going forward, with the two men brainstorming personnel moves that might be possible this offseason. Lasry confirmed to Antetokounmpo that the Bucks are willing to spend into the luxury tax to make upgrades, Woj notes.
The Bucks’ approach to Malcolm Brogdon‘s free agency last offseason would seem to contradict the assertion that the team is ready and willing to cross the tax threshold, but Milwaukee was known to have some long-term health concerns about Brogdon. Team ownership may also be more comfortable paying an annual tax bill once Giannis has been locked up long-term.
According to Wojnarowski, Antetokounmpo and Lasry agreed to talk again after the reigning MVP returns from vacation.
While speculation figures to run rampant this offseason about Antetokounmpo’s future and the possibility of him changing teams, he said at season’s end that he has no intention of asking to be traded. The Bucks will also retain the ability to pay him significantly more on a long-term deal than any other team can, regardless of exactly how much their super-max extension offer ends up being worth.
Giannis’ current contract runs through the 2020/21 season.
Calvin Booth Interviews For Kings’ Front Office Job
SEPTEMBER 13: Booth has interviewed for the Kings’ front office job after all, according to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link). Anderson tweets that it’s unclear how serious Booth’s interest in the job is, but says it’s a positive sign for Sacramento that he met with the club.
SEPTEMBER 12: Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth will become the third candidate to withdraw from the Kings’ search for a new head of basketball operations, a source tells Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.
News broke earlier today that Heat assistant GM Adam Simon has pulled his name out of contention, and Pelicans GM Trajan Langdon informed the Kings on Wednesday that he no longer wants to be considered.
Those decisions leave Sacramento with just three announced candidates to replace Vlade Divac, who resigned in August. They are Timberwolves executive vice president Sachin Gupta, Rockets assistant GM Monte McNair and former Hawks GM Wes Wilcox. Interviews are set to get underway in the coming days.
The 44-year-old Booth was just promoted to the GM role in Denver in July. He is in his third season with the organization, previously serving as assistant GM. Anderson notes that he played a significant role in the Nuggets’ decisions to draft Monte Morris, Michael Porter Jr., Bol Bol and Vlatko Cancar.
Mike D’Antoni Won’t Return To Rockets
Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni has informed team ownership that he intends to become a coaching free agent and won’t return to Houston next season, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
D’Antoni had been on an expiring contract, having turned down extension offers from the Rockets prior to the season.
General manager Daryl Morey had said after Houston’s Game 1 win over the Lakers in the second round that the team wanted to retain D’Antoni. However, there was always a sense that the two sides may not continue their relationship, especially since Houston’s preseason extension offers were short-term and included incentives. That sense only increased after the Rockets lost four straight games to the Lakers and were eliminated from the postseason.
D’Antoni, who joined the Rockets in 2016, led the organization to a 217-101 (.682) record over four seasons and won at least one playoff series in each of those four years, earning Coach of the Year honors in 2017.
Despite championship aspirations during that time, the club never got over the hump and reached the NBA Finals, having been eliminated twice by the Warriors, once by the Spurs, and now once by the Lakers.
Having confirmed his departure from Houston in a statement (link via Woj), D’Antoni is now expected to be among the candidates considered by the Sixers as they seek a new head coach, per ESPN. Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer tweets that there have been rumblings for weeks that D’Antoni may be headed to the Pelicans, though an earlier report suggested those rumors may be overstated. He has also been linked to the Pacers.
The Rockets, meanwhile, are likely to take a close look at Tyronn Lue as they weigh potential replacements for D’Antoni, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Giannis Antetokounmpo Meets With Bucks’ Co-Owner
Reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo had a private meeting today with Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry to talk about where the franchise is headed, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
Speculation has been rampant about Antetokounmpo’s plans for the future, especially after Milwaukee was knocked out of the playoffs in the second round. Earlier today, Antetokounmpo unfollowed hundreds of people on Twitter and Instragram, including teammates and the Bucks’ team account, Haynes adds.
This offseason, Antetokounmpo will be eligible to sign a super-max extension that could pay him as much as $254MM over five years. Only the Bucks can offer him that much, but Antetokounmpo hasn’t decided if he wants to make a long-term commitment to Milwaukee. His contract expires after the 2020/21 season, and several teams are already maximizing cap space in case he becomes available.
Another option is to ask for a trade while he still has a year left on his current deal, but Antetokounmpo said last week he doesn’t plan to do that.
“Some see a wall and go in (another direction). I plow through it,” he said after the Bucks were eliminated. “We just have to get better as a team, individually and get right back at it next season.”
Nets Looking For Veteran Assistant Coaches
The Nets will try to add experienced coaches to Steve Nash’s staff, Shams Charania of The Athletic said in an appearance on Stadium (video tweeted by Billy Reinhardt of NetsDaily). Charania mentioned ABC/ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy and Lakers assistant Phil Handy as two possibilities.
Brooklyn considered Van Gundy as a potential head coach before hiring Nash last week, Charania adds. The 58-year-old hasn’t coached in the NBA since the 2006/07 season with Houston and has built a successful career in television. However, he did lead Team USA at the 2017 FIBA AmeriCup tournament and the qualifiers for last year’s World Cup and he may be tempted to join a team that figures to be in title contention when Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are both healthy next season.
Handy, 49, has been in the league for the past decade, breaking in as a player development coach with the Lakers. He also served as an assistant with the Cavaliers and Raptors before coming back to L.A. when Frank Vogel was hired last summer.
The Nets filled one spot on Nash’s staff when they retained interim coach Jacque Vaughn as lead assistant. Keeping Vaughn was “critical,” according to Charania, who says Vaughn’s relationship with Durant has improved over the past few weeks. He adds that Vaughn likely would have become the head coach if Nash hadn’t agreed to take the job.
NBA Aims For Fans In Arenas, Reduced Travel Next Season
The NBA is looking toward having fans in the stands and reduced travel next season rather than holding games in “bubble” or campus facilities, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports.
The amount of fans to be allowed in arenas is yet to be determined but the league would prefer in-market competition, Charania continues.
In recent weeks, the projected start date for next season has been pushed back.
Originally projected for the beginning of December, commissioner Adam Silver expressed skepticism for that target date last month. Silver told the league’s Board of Governors during a conference call on Thursday that the season won’t start earlier than Christmas, while NBPA executive director Michele Roberts suggested that opening night may not happen until the new year.
The league will announce next season’s structure with eight weeks‘ notice of the start date, Charania adds.
The NBA also had a call with the league’s 30 GMs on Friday.
The league still hopes to play a full 82-game regular season schedule but the dates for games and other events remain in flux.
In-Person Interviews With Draft Prospects Allowed Next Month
The NBA will allow teams to hold in-person interviews with this year’s draft prospects in mid-October, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. For the time being, in-person workouts will still be prohibited, Wojnarowski adds.
The in-person interviews are the second half of a two-step process for the Draft Combine, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. From mid-September to early October, in-market medicals and virtual interviews will be held. The league has also given the go-ahead for on-court drills, Charania adds.
The draft itself is still tentatively scheduled for November 18 but that’s still subject to change, Wojnarowski reports in another tweet. It’s also still expected that the draft will be held virtually, allowing teams to have “war rooms” at their facilities, Wojnarowski adds.
It has been a long and strange journey for draft prospects and NBA front office executives and scouts due to the coronavirus pandemic. Normally, teams are busy in the spring evaluating prospects at the combine as well as at their practice facilities. Thus far, the only communication between this year’s draft class and NBA personnel has been done remotely.
The draft lottery was moved from May to August 20, with the Timberwolves winning the right to make the first pick. The draft was originally scheduled on June 25.
Danuel House Leaving NBA Campus, Done For Season
The NBA announced today in a press release that it has concluded its investigation into Rockets forward Danuel House following an apparent violation of campus health and safety protocols. According to the league, the investigation found that House had an unauthorized guest in his hotel room “over multiple hours” earlier this week.
“Mr. House is leaving the NBA campus and will not participate with the Rockets team in additional games this season,” the Rockets said in their statement.
As we detailed in a pair of stories on Wednesday and Thursday, the league’s probe into the Rockets was focused on the belief that a female COVID-19 testing official entered the team hotel without authorization for several hours late on Monday night.
When asked about the incident, the staffer reportedly implicated Tyson Chandler and another Rocket, but those players were cleared and the investigation focused on House, who was held out of Games 3 and 4 of Houston’s series vs. the Lakers as he quarantined. The league was said to have circumstantial evidence implicating the forward.
House “vehemently denied” violating the league’s safety protocols, but the Rockets and the NBPA were essentially powerless during the investigation, since the NBA is in charge of medical and safety protocols. That was a source of frustration for the Rockets, who were “blindsided” by the investigation, per Ben Golliver of The Washington Post.
“If it was a star player, there’s no way (the NBA) would handle it this way,” a person close to House with direct knowledge of the investigation told Golliver. “They want to make an example out of somebody.”
Another source told Golliver that the NBA was “prioritizing their perception of safety over everything else.”
House is a key rotation player for Houston, having averaged 11.4 PPG and 5.8 RPG on .435/.358/.769 shooting in the Rockets’ first nine playoff games (31.0 MPG). The Rockets have lost both games with House sidelined and find themselves in a 3-1 hole that may be too big to climb out of — especially without an important role player.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Roberts Skeptical 2020/21 Season Will Start In December
The NBA reportedly informed its Board of Governors this week that the 2020/21 season won’t begin any earlier than Christmas Day. While starting next season on December 25 – typically one of the biggest days on the NBA’s calendar – might seem ideal, NBPA executive director Michele Roberts isn’t sure it will be possible.
“I do think we’ll have a season, but I don’t think it will begin in December,” Roberts told David Gelles of The New York Times.
There’s reportedly a consensus hope among the NBA league office and team owners that the ’20/21 season can tip off in late-December or at some point in January. However, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer tweeted on Thursday that he wouldn’t be surprised if the season doesn’t begin until February or even March. The league and the players’ union will both have to sign off on a revamped schedule.
One of the NBA’s top priorities for next season is getting fans back into arenas, since a significant chunk of the league’s revenues are tied to ticket sales and in-arena purchases. Roberts is hopeful that can happen, but acknowledged to Gelles that even if there are advances in coronavirus testing and treatment in the coming months, the idea of filling arenas next season is probably unrealistic.
“There will be a revenue drop,” Roberts said. “I do see a possibility of there being some reopening of some arenas. But if we’re lucky we will see 25 percent of the revenue that ordinarily comes through gate receipts, etc. That’s optimistic. Hopefully we can soften the blow, but I don’t see us packing arenas.”
Although Roberts is optimistic that some arenas will be able to accommodate fans – even if it happens later in the season and with a significantly reduced capacity – she suggested that some “bubble-like environment” may be necessary to start the season, given the state of the coronavirus pandemic and how successful the Walt Disney World bubble has been this summer.
“I suspect that we will have a hybrid environment, maybe with division bubbles that last for a certain number of months, and then we stop,” Roberts told Gelles. “But the concept of putting our players in a bubble for an entire season is unrealistic.”
Latest On NBA’s Investigation Into House, Rockets
4:19pm: Asked prior to Thursday night’s game about House’s status, Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni confirmed that he expects to be without the forward (Twitter link via Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle). D’Antoni is unsure whether House will be available later in the series.
“The investigation is ongoing,” he said. “They’ll come out with their ruling and we’ll go from there.”
12:46pm: After word broke on Wednesday night that the NBA is investigating a potential violation of campus protocols by Rockets forward Danuel House, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported on Thursday morning that the probe is related to House allegedly allowing a female COVID-19 testing official into his hotel room. Now, Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic have provided more details on the investigation.
According to Charania and Amick, a female staffer – who is not believed to be a league employee – entered the Rockets’ team hotel on Monday night and left in the early hours of Tuesday morning. When the woman was questioned by league security, she claimed to have contact with Tyson Chandler and another player (not House), sources tell The Athletic.
The entire Rockets’ team entered a quarantine period on Tuesday due to possible coronavirus exposure, but the league’s investigation soon focused on Chandler and House, according to Charania and Amick. Those two players weren’t permitted to play in Game 3 vs. the Lakers on Tuesday night.
Although the woman didn’t implicate House and he has “vehemently denied” engaging in any improper conduct, the NBA says it has circumstantial evidence implicating House, per The Athletic’s report. The league’s investigation cleared Chandler on Wednesday and shifted its focus toward House, who has been in quarantine while the probe continues.
The Rockets and the NBPA have been supporting House, but Charania and Amick suggest that the team and the union are “virtually powerless” in the process, since the NBA is running the show on medical and protocol issues. Sources tell The Athletic that there has been some frustration about the lack of communication between the league’s investigative team and the Rockets.
Today’s latest injury report from the NBA continued to list House as out for Game 4 on Thursday night, so unless the league’s investigation clears him within the next few hours, it sounds as if he’ll likely miss a second consecutive game.