2020/21 NBA Season Won’t Begin Before Christmas
The NBA league office informed the Board of Governors on a call today that the 2020/21 regular season won’t begin before Christmas Day, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Back in June, the NBA penciled in a tentative start date of December 1 for the ’20/21 campaign, but the NBPA never agreed to that proposal, which always seemed overly optimistic, as commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged last month.
The NBA’s goal is to have as many fans back in arenas as possible next season, as early as possible, so the league is somewhat motivated to be patient. That could mean pushing next season’s start date into the new year in the hopes that more effective treatments and/or tests – or even a vaccine – for the coronavirus will be developed.
[RELATED: NBA Hoping Next Season Can Start In December Or January]
While December 25 is typically a huge day for the NBA, with a five-game schedule featuring many of the league’s marquee teams, previous reports have indicated that the league has discussed the possibility of starting next season as late as March.
The situation – including a proposed draft date of November 18 – remains fluid for now, with nothing finalized, according to Charania. Both the league and the players’ union will have to sign off on new dates for the draft, free agency, and the 2020/21 season.
NBA Investigating Possible Bubble Violation By Danuel House
SEPTEMBER 10, 8:39am: House is under investigation for allegedly allowing a female COVID-19 testing official into his hotel room, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, who reiterates that the forward “maintains his innocence.”
SEPTEMBER 9, 10:45pm: Danuel House missed Game 3 of the Rockets‘ second-round series against the Lakers on Tuesday for “personal reasons” and is listed as out for Game 4 as well.
Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim MacMahon of ESPN provide some clarity on House’s situation, reporting that the NBA is looking into a potential violation of bubble protocol by the Rockets’ forward.
While specific details on House’s violation aren’t known, Wojnarowski and MacMahon report that the 27-year-old didn’t leave the perimeter of the NBA’s campus and has denied any wrongdoing. House hasn’t been cleared to play in Game 4 and his status for the rest of the series is up in the air, but the NBA and NBPA continue to discuss the issue, per ESPN’s duo.
Sources tell Wojnarowski and MacMahon that the league is believed to be considering the possibility of a 10-day quarantine for House — teammate Bruno Caboclo and Kings center Richaun Holmes faced similar penalties in July for campus protocol violations.
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). When he sat on Tuesday, it resulted in a heavier workload for players like Jeff Green and Ben McLemore.
Although House’s status going forward remains unclear, the Rockets got some good news on Wednesday, as Robert Covington didn’t suffer a concussion or a broken nose as a result of his Game 3 collision with Anthony Davis. Covington is expected to be good to go on Thursday.
Chauncey Billups Among Pacers’ Coaching Candidates
The Pacers‘ initial list of candidates for their head coaching vacancy featured 14 names, but apparently it was still unfinished. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski adds another name to that list, reporting that former NBA point guard Chauncey Billups has emerged as a candidate for the Indiana job.
According to Wojnarowski, Billups and Pacers officials recently engaged in talks about the position and plan to discuss it further. Woj points out that Billups fits the profile of some past Pacers coaching hires, such as Larry Bird and Isiah Thomas — Bird and Thomas were former Finals MVPs – like Billups – who were hired without any previous coaching experience in large part due to their leadership abilities as players.
A report last week indicated that Billups was interested in pursuing an NBA head coaching job and that teams had begun doing their homework on the former Piston, researching his candidacy.
Although Billups lacks coaching experience, NBA teams have a history of hiring former point guards who don’t have any past experience as assistants. Steve Nash is the latest example, but Doc Rivers, Steve Kerr, Mark Jackson, Jason Kidd, and Thomas are others who fit the bill.
The Pacers’ management team wants to get to know Billups, evaluate his preparedness for the job, and explore how they’d work together to build a coaching staff, writes Wojnarowski. According to Woj, people around the league have long believed that Billups would land a significant role with an NBA organization due to his leadership style and “basketball savvy.” It remains to be seen if he and the Pacers will be the right fit for one another.
NBA, NBPA Eyeing November 18 For Rescheduled Draft
The NBA has informed its teams that Wednesday, November 18 is the date currently being targeted for a rescheduled draft, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
As Wojnarowski explains (via Twitter), that date has yet to be finalized, but the NBA and NBPA have zeroed in November 18 during their negotiations, and the plan is to discuss it further in calls with the league’s Board of Governors and general managers later this week.
Shams Charania of The Athletic reported on Tuesday that the league and the players’ union had agreed to once again postpone 2020’s NBA draft date, which had previously been pushed back from June 25 to October 16. However, Charania cautioned that a new date had yet to be set.
While some teams – especially those who have been out of action for months – may be ready to get on with the draft, there are multiple reasons why the NBA was motivated to move it back again.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), the delay may open the door for the league to hold a pre-draft combine after May’s event was indefinitely postponed. Additionally, the extra month will give the NBA more time to gather information on what next season might look like and will give the league and union more time to negotiate new salary cap numbers for 2020/21 and other issues related to the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
The free agent period and the start of the 2020/21 season will be delayed along with the draft. We don’t have any concrete updates on those dates yet, but it’s a safe bet that free agency will begin a few days after the draft. As for next season’s opening night, it seems increasingly likely to be postponed to early 2021.
Pacers Identify 14 Head Coaching Candidates
The Pacers are set to begin a wide-ranging search for a head coach that will include more than a dozen candidates, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. As Wojnarowski details, Indiana is looking to interview the following candidates as the team seeks a replacement for Nate McMillan:
- Former Kings and Grizzlies coach Dave Joerger
- Timberwolves associate head coach David Vanterpool
- Nets associate head coach Jacque Vaughn
- Trail Blazers associate head coach Nate Tibbetts
- Spurs assistants Becky Hammon and Will Hardy
- Heat assistants Dan Craig and Chris Quinn
- Mavericks assistants Jamahl Mosley and Stephen Silas
- Bucks assistants Darvin Ham and Charles Lee
- Sixers assistant Ime Udoka
- Magic assistant Pat Delany
It remains to be seen whether the Pacers will be granted permission to speak with all of their potential targets. If they do, the team’s first round of virtual meetings would feature at least 14 interviews.
Many of the Pacers’ coaching candidates identified by Wojnarowski have been linked to other vacancies around the league. Vanterpool, Craig, Mosley, Silas, Ham, and Udoka, for example, are all believed to be interviewing for the Bulls’ job. Udoka and Ham have also been mentioned as potential 76ers candidates, as has Joerger. Vaughn was seriously considered for the Nets job before the team hired Steve Nash, while Hardy and Delany interviewed with the Knicks before they hired Tom Thibodeau.
[RELATED: 2020 NBA Head Coaching Search Tracker]
Others on Indiana’s list, such as Tibbetts and Hammon, have interviewed in past years for various NBA head coaching openings. Only a couple candidates – Quinn and Lee – haven’t received head coaching consideration in the past, as far as I can tell. Meanwhile, Joerger and Vaughn are the only names on the list with previous head coaching experience.
Mike D’Antoni has also been mentioned as a potential target for the Pacers, but he remains active in the postseason with the Rockets and there’s no guarantee he’ll leave Houston when his contract expires.
Pacers president of basketball operations Kevin Pritchard has spoken about wanting to hire a head coach who takes a “modern approach” to the game and has the ability to connect with younger players. McMillan’s old-school approach to offense was believed to be one reason why Indiana made a change.
Giannis Says He’s Not Looking To Leave Milwaukee
In the wake of the Bucks‘ second-round elimination at the hands of the Heat, speculation about Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s future in Milwaukee will begin to ramp up. However, the star forward tells Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports that he has no intention of asking to be traded as he prepares to enter the final year of his current contract.
“It’s not happening. That’s not happening,” Antetokounmpo said. “Some see a wall and go in (another direction). I plow through it. We just have to get better as a team, individually and get right back at it next season.”
While his comments to Haynes conveyed his commitment to Milwaukee in stronger terms, Antetokounmpo also hinted during his post-game media session on Tuesday night that he has no plans to leave the Bucks, as Eric Nehm of The Athletic relays (via Twitter).
“Hopefully we can learn from this and get better as a team,” Giannis said. “… Hopefully we can build a culture in Milwaukee for many years that we can come out here and compete every single year for a championship.”
The Bucks have had the NBA’s best regular-season record in each of the last two seasons, but were eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals a year ago by Toronto after taking a 2-0 lead in the series. This time around, the fifth-seeded Heat knocked them out in the Eastern Semifinals in a near-sweep, raising more questions about the Bucks’ ability to win in the postseason — and about whether Giannis might be looking for an exit ramp.
[RELATED: Heat, Raptors viewed as top suitors for Giannis Antetokounmpo]
Although he won’t be eligible for free agency until 2021, Antetokounmpo will be eligible this offseason for a super-max contract extension. The value of that five-year offer is in flux due to the uncertainty surrounding the NBA’s salary cap going forward, but the deal would be significantly more valuable than what any rival suitor can offer him as a free agent, and the Bucks plan to put it on the table as soon as they can.
Even if Antetokounmpo doesn’t immediately accept that offer, that doesn’t mean his days in Milwaukee will be numbered. Multiple sources are adamant that the Bucks wouldn’t trade Giannis even without an extension, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN, who suggests the club would instead focus on convincing the reigning MVP to stay.
Whether or not Giannis re-ups with the Bucks when he becomes extension-eligible, general manager Jon Horst figures to exhaust every possibility when it comes to upgrading the roster this fall. Marc Stein of The New York Times tweets that some rival teams believe Milwaukee will look into trading for point guard Chris Paul if the Thunder make him available.
Antetokounmpo’s future will almost certainly be one of the hottest topics of the NBA offseason, but he’s not entertaining the speculation for now, telling Haynes that he’s focused on getting his sprained ankle healthy and getting back to work.
“If winning a championship was easy, everyone would have one,” Giannis said to Haynes. “We lost. Everyone saw that we lost. It’s disappointing, but what are we going to do? We’re going to keep working. I’ve got confidence in my teammates.”
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Marvin Williams To Retire
Veteran NBA forward Marvin Williams has decided to call it a career, telling Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link) that he’s retiring as a player.
Williams, 34, was the second overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft. He began his career by spending seven seasons with the Hawks before moving on to play for the Jazz, Hornets, and Bucks over the course of his 15-year career.
Although he never developed into the sort of star player Atlanta may have hoped for when drafting him ahead of Deron Williams and Chris Paul in 2005, Williams was an exemplary teammate and a reliable role player, averaging 10.2 PPG and 5.2 RPG on .443/.361/.808 shooting in 1,072 career regular season games (28.1 MPG).
The former UNC standout appeared in another 59 playoff contests, including 10 with Milwaukee this summer. He played his last NBA game on Tuesday night, recording 11 points and eight rebounds in the Bucks’ season-ending loss to Miami.
At age 34, Williams would likely still be able to get a minimum-salary contract on an NBA team this offseason if he wanted to extend his career. However, he had spoken back in January about considering retiring at the end of this season. At the time, he said he was interested in pursuing a role in international basketball outreach once his playing days were over.
“I like the Junior NBA (program) where you are basically a camp counselor all around the world,” Williams told Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer. “Basketball Without Borders, I’ve done a couple of those: I went to Africa and I went to Indonesia. … Any opportunity I get to travel and work with kids? That’s what I would love to do.”
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Billy Donovan, Thunder Part Ways
Thunder head coach Billy Donovan, whose contract with Oklahoma City expired after his team was eliminated in the playoffs this season, will not be returning to the club for the 2020/21 season, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. The team issued a press release confirming that the two sides have mutually agreed to part ways.
After Donovan and his representatives could not come to terms on a new deal with the Thunder, both sides opted to move on. As ESPN’s Royce Young tweets, the break-up is more about the two sides not aligning on a long-term fit than any strong desire to make a change.
“We had planned to sit down at the end of the season and discuss the best way to move forward for both of us,” general manager Sam Presti said in a statement on Donovan. “After those discussions, it became apparent that we couldn’t provide him the information on the future direction of the team over the next several seasons to give him the level of clarity that he understandably desires at this stage of his career. Therefore, we close this chapter and reflect fondly on all that he has given to the team, organization and community.”
The fact that the club’s front office, led by Presti, anticipates an eventual rebuild helped put a damper on contract talks, Wojnarowski tweets. The Oklahoma City roster features several veterans that the team could soon be looking to move for future assets, especially with league revenues suffering as the coronavirus pandemic continues, Woj notes (Twitter link).
When the Thunder traded All-Stars Paul George and Russell Westbrook in the summer of 2019, expectations for the team were lower than they had been at any point in Donovan’s tenure with the club, and there was a league-wide belief that an OKC rebuild was imminent.
However, Donovan and new additions Chris Paul and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder to a 44-28 record in 2019/20, good for the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference. The team eventually lost Game 7 in the first round of the playoffs to former Thunder MVP Westbrook and the Rockets.
Donovan sported a 243-157 (.608) record in his five seasons as Thunder head coach. The team made the postseason in each of those five years, though it only advanced beyond the first round once during that time, in 2016, prior to Kevin Durant‘s departure.
Donovan’s exit from Oklahoma City immediately makes him one of the more intriguing free agents on the head coaching market.
The Bulls, in the midst of finishing a first round of interviews with prospective candidates, are anticipated to be interested in Donovan’s services as a potential new head coach, according to Woj (Twitter link). The Sixers are also expected to pursue Donovan, per Sam Amick of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NBA Announces 2019/20 All-Defensive Teams
The NBA has officially announced its All-Defensive teams for the 2019/20 season. Unsurprisingly, Defensive Player of the Year (and possible repeat MVP) Giannis Antetokounmpo was the leading vote-getter with 195 total points. Players receive two points per First Team vote and one point per Second Team vote.
This is the Bucks forward’s second consecutive appearance on the All-NBA First Team. Antetokounmpo was listed on 98 of 100 ballots from the 100 broadcasters and writers who comprised this year’s voting panel. 97 of those voters awarded him a First Team vote.
Lakers forward Anthony Davis was featured on every ballot and received a total tally of 187 points (including 87 First Team votes). Sixers guard Ben Simmons tallied 185 points with the third-most votes this year. Jazz center Rudy Gobert, the 2018 and 2019 Defensive Player of the Year, was fourth with 95 total votes (85 First Team), for 180 total points. Celtics guard Marcus Smart rounded out the All-Defensive First Team with 152 points, including 57 First Team votes.
Gobert’s inclusion on the All-Defensive First Team has earned him a $500K bonus, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets. Antetokounmpo’s Bucks teammates Brook Lopez (67 points) and Eric Bledsoe (59 points) each made the All-Defensive Second Team.
[RELATED: Giannis Antetokounmpo Named Defensive Player Of The Year]
Here are the full voting results for the All-Defensive First and Second Teams, with each player’s point total noted in parentheses:
First Team:
- Giannis Antetokounmpo, F, Bucks (195)
- Anthony Davis, F, Lakers (187)
- Ben Simmons, G, Sixers (185)
- Rudy Gobert, C, Jazz (180)
- Marcus Smart, G, Celtics (152)
Second Team:
- Kawhi Leonard, F, Clippers (128)
- Brook Lopez, C, Bucks (67)
- Bam Adebayo, F/C, Heat (61)
- Patrick Beverley, G, Clippers (60)
- Eric Bledsoe, G, Bucks (59)
You can find the full voting results right here.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
NBA Draft, Free Agency, 2020/21 Season Moved Back
After extended discussions between the NBA and the National Basketball Players’ Association, both sides have mutually decided to postpone several important offseason events, according to Shams Charania of Stadium (Twitter link).
The 2020 NBA draft (currently scheduled for October 16), the start of free agency (scheduled for early October 18), and the 2020/21 season (scheduled for December 1) have all been moved back to later dates, to be determined later.
Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer tweets that several team executives anticipate the rescheduled draft could occur in mid-November, allowing more time after the NBA Finals conclude for a potential pre-draft combine for prospects.
It has long been speculated that the December 1 date for a 2020/21 season start would be moved back. NBA commissioner Adam Silver suggesting in an interview last month that he hoped to wait until fans could attend games in person. The league is hopeful that fast-response COVID-19 tests may enable this to happen sooner rather than later.