Knicks, Rockets, Nets Interested In Thibodeau?
The Knicks would get first crack at Tom Thibodeau for their head coaching job if new president Leon Rose decides to replace Mike Miller, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post.
The Rockets and Nets are also expected to pursue Thibodeau but the Knicks could get the jump on those franchises because they won’t make the playoffs, Berman continues.
Thibodeau would have an apparent interest in all three jobs, Berman continues, but there’s a connection between him and Rose. As a Creative Artists Agency client, Thibodeau has worked with the former agent.
There has been widespread speculation about potential coaching candidates for the Knicks, and a report surfaced last week that Thibodeau would be Rose’s top choice if a change is made. That report also stated Spurs assistant Becky Hammon and former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy would get consideration.
The Rockets and Nets have been previously noted as other possible destinations for the former Bulls and Timberwolves coach. Nets superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving like and respect Thibodeau, who coached them as a Team USA assistant, Berman adds. Still, it’s worth noting that one April report suggested that Thibodeau was thought to be “solely a Knicks candidate.”
Ballmer Finalizes Purchase Of Inglewood’s Forum
The Clippers issued a press release today announcing that CAPSS LLC – a recently-formed company backed by team owner Steve Ballmer – has completed its purchase of The Forum in Inglewood, California. The venue was previously owned by the Madison Square Garden Company.
The sale agreement was initially reported in March, when the two sides reached a deal for Ballmer’s group to buy The Forum for $400MM in cash. MSG Co. – controlled by Knicks owner James Dolan – had previously been engaged in a legal battle with Ballmer and the Clippers, who are trying to build a new arena in Inglewood.
The sale of The Forum will help end that litigation, paving the way for the Clippers to move forward on their new building. The Forum, meanwhile, will continue to operate as a live entertainment venue. The Forum’s existing leadership team of Geni Lincoln and Mike Fallon will now report to Gillian Zucker, the Clippers’ president of business operations, according to today’s announcement.
“The talented team at The Forum has created a world-class live entertainment venue, and we are committed to building upon that reputation,” Zucker said in a statement. “Having The Forum just a short distance from the L.A. Clippers’ new arena will give us the opportunity to provide the City of Inglewood with a number of benefits, including a collaborative approach to managing traffic and community activities.”
The Clippers are locked into their Staples Center lease through 2024, but Ballmer has long prioritized the idea of the team moving into a building of its own. The franchise will now be able to move forward on plans to build a state-of-the-art, 18,000-seat arena in Inglewood.
Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN reported in March that the Clippers’ proposal was undergoing an environmental review by Inglewood, with public hearings to approve the project expected to be held in the summer. It’s not clear whether the coronavirus pandemic has changed that timeline at all.
Joe Harris Reveals Injury Suffered Before Start Of Hiatus
Nets swingman Joe Harris estimates he would have been sidelined for about a month if the NBA hadn’t gone on hiatus in March, according to a NetsDaily story. In an interview with UVA Today, a publication by the University of Virginia, Harris said he suffered a severe ankle sprain in Brooklyn’s final game before the shutdown.
“So I was going to be out a month, no matter what, and then (the hiatus) went down literally the next day,” Harris said. “I wasn’t even with the team. I flew back to New York with one of our trainers, and we were supposed to play at Golden State (on March 12). The rest of the team was in San Francisco, and they just had to pack up their stuff and leave from there.”
Harris confirmed that he has fully healed and will be ready to play whenever the NBA season resumes. He said the injury gave him an opportunity to work with team trainers, which only players who are doing rehab work are permitted to do under lockdown regulations. However, Harris wasn’t able to use the practice court or any basketballs in his workouts.
“The only loophole that I have right now is that the NBA allowed guys that were in the midst of rehab go into the facility and work with the trainer, so I’ve been able to do that for the last few weeks,” Harris said. “But when I go in, I have to wear a mask and gloves the entire time, and only you and the trainer are allowed in there.
“… Everything’s shut down. I just do rehab, and I do it with one trainer, and it’s just the two of us in the entire facility, so it’s a little strange, because when you go in there, it’s usually hustling and bustling, with a lot going on and good energy, and now there’s just two of you in there.”
Harris also spoke briefly about free agency, saying he hasn’t “really thought about it a ton.” After four productive years in Brooklyn, Harris is in position for a sizable raise from the $7.7MM he’s making this season. The Nets will have to decide if he is worth the investment after spending heavily to add Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan last summer.
“It’s one of those things where I’ll just sort of cross that bridge when I get to it,” Harris said. “Right now all the focus is on prioritizing your health and well-being. I’m really more worried about that versus anything basketball-related, to be honest.”
Wolves Plan To Re-Sign Beasley, Hernangomez
Re-signing Malik Beasley and Juan Hernangomez will be a priority for the Timberwolves during the offseason, president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas told Dane Moore of WCCO Radio in Minneapolis (Twitter link). Both players are headed for free agency after being acquired in a four-team deal in February.
“We want those guys to be Timberwolves for a long, long time,” Rosas said. “Hopefully, for the rest of their careers.”
After occupying a bench role in Denver, Beasley moved into the starting lineup when he arrived in Minnesota and was putting up the best numbers of his career before the hiatus. The 23-year-old guard averaged 20.7 PPG in 14 games with the Wolves while shooting career highs from the field (47.2%) and 3-point range (42.6%). The team will need to extend a $3.9MM qualifying offer to make him a restricted free agent.
Hernangomez, 24, also became a starter upon moving to Minnesota and averaged 12.9 PPG and 7.3 RPG in 14 games. The fourth-year power forward will be an RFA if the Wolves make a $4.6MM qualifying offer.
In the same interview, Rosas indicated that Minnesota plans to be aggressive again this offseason, similar to last summer when the team traded up to get Jarrett Culver on draft night, then pursued D’Angelo Russell in free agency (Twitter link). Rosas points out that the Wolves could have three picks in the top 33, which he called potentially “the most draft capital” of anyone (Twitter link).
Sean Marks Doesn’t Rule Out A Return By Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant‘s manager and business partner Rich Kleiman has suggested Durant won’t try to return if the season resumes, but Nets general manager Sean Marks wasn’t as definite when asked about the possibility by Grant Chapman of Newshub in New Zealand.
“That’s a $110MM question,” Marks responded. “In all seriousness, we’ve tried not to talk about his timeline a lot. He knows his body better than anybody. Our performance team and training staff have done a tremendous job getting him to this point, but I just don’t know how coming out of this pandemic will affect anybody, let alone Kevin.
“When you’ve got enough invested in a player like Kevin, we’re never going to push him to come back. When the timing is right, he’ll be 100 percent when he gets on the court. I can tell you this though — before the pandemic, he looked like Kevin Durant and that’s a good thing.”
When Durant signed with the Nets last summer, it was generally accepted that he would sit out the entire season while recovering from Achilles surgery. However, the NBA’s hiatus may present an unexpected opportunity. Durant was participating in three-on-three scrimmages before the league was locked down and was impressing teammates with his play.
Durant is approaching the 11-month mark since suffering the injury in Game 5 of the NBA Finals and could provide a much-needed playoff boost to Brooklyn, which currently occupies the seventh seed in the East.
Also in the interview, Marks, a native New Zealander, said he remains optimistic that the league can finish its season, adding that the Nets’ staff is preparing for multiple scenarios.
“It’s not like we’re not throwing stuff on the wall, because we are,” he said. “We’re throwing stuff up there like, ‘what if this happens, what if that happens… what are the circumstances we would need to return’. Nobody quite knows what the new normal will be. The new normal we were predicting a week ago is vastly different to the one we’re predicting right now … things are changing so quickly.”
John Wall Discusses Comeback, Bradley Beal
Appearing with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes on their “All The Smoke” podcast, Wizards guard John Wall vowed to return to the court better than ever and addressed rumors of a long-running feud with Bradley Beal, relays Jack Maloney of CBS Sports.
Wall hasn’t played since December of 2018 because of a ruptured Achilles. He’s not expected to return this season no matter when it resumes, but he told the hosts he’s keeping track of what’s been happening on the court and is ready to exact revenge in 2020/21.
“When I’m not playing, I’m watching these guys play,” Wall said. “Like these young guys, they killing our team and they looking at our bench and stuff. Just know I got those written down in my notes for when I come back when they start next season. I can’t wait to (show) them what I got, what I’m about. But I’m gonna be better than what I was before, and that’s the scary part. Damn near the whole five years I was an All-Star I played with two bone spurs in my knee and my heel. People don’t know that. They ain’t even get the best of John Wall yet, they just got a clip of him.”
Speaking about his backcourt partner, Wall said any tension with Beal stemmed from their shared desire to be the team leader. They’ve both put up impressive numbers during their eight years as teammates, but they haven’t been able to lift the Wizards into title contention.
Still, their partnership seems likely to continue. Beal signed an extension in October that will keep him in Washington through at least the 2021/22 season, while Wall is under contract for two more years with a $47,366,760 player option for 2022/23 that he seems certain to pick up.
“We both want to be stars. We both want to take the game-winning shots … But at the end of the day, they always say, ‘Well, they don’t like each other. They downgrading each other.'” Wall said. “Ain’t no John Wall without Bradley Beal. Ain’t no Bradley Beal without John Wall. We make each other better. We accommodate each other so well on the court and it works easy for us.”
Zion Williamson May Have Minutes Restriction
The Pelicans will consider a minutes restriction for rookie forward Zion Williamson if their season resumes, head coach Alvin Gentry said in a conference call with reporters on Thursday.
Williamson was one of the most eagerly anticipated rookies in years, but he played just 19 games before the hiatus because of a knee injury that delayed his debut until late January. He was placed on a minutes restriction at the time, but it was removed after a few games. Gentry said the team’s medical staff will re-evaluate Williamson and several other players if a restart date is announced for the season.
“It will be something that we talk about when we do resume and as far as how it looks for Zion from a minute standpoint, and we’ll do that really with some of the other players,” Gentry said. “This is unprecedented, really. You play in a basketball game, you play 60 games and then all of a sudden the season ends, and then now it’s going to start back up. So, this is going to be something that is different for every single player that has ever played in the NBA or is playing in the NBA now.”
Although fans in New Orleans only got a brief look at Williamson, he lived up to expectations by averaging 23.6 points and 6.8 rebounds per night while shooting 58.9% from the field. He helped the Pelicans overcome a slow start and inch their way toward playoff contention by the time the season was halted.
“I still think that in all the years that I’ve been in the league, I’ve never seen anyone that has a second jump like this kid,” Gentry added. “It’s amazing how he can hit the ground and be back up before anyone is really reacting to the first move that he had. I would say that’s been a pleasant surprise in those areas right there. I think what we found out is that he’s an excellent passer, also. I think as he gets more comfortable handling a basketball, that’s going to be an area that everyone sees that he can be an elite guy from the position that he’s playing right there.
“He’s such a good guy, just from a teammate standpoint, that I knew our guys would be pulling for him. Our guys have embraced the fact that he’s a guy that we can finish games with, he’s a guy that we can go to when we need a basket, and he’ll make the right play.”
Next Season Could Be Pushed To December
There is growing support from NBA team owners to delay the start of the 2020/2021 season until December, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver and the league’s Board of Governors continued discussions on Friday about pushing back next season from its usual October launch date.
By pushing the start of the season to December, the NBA could increase its chances of having fans in the arenas for as many games as possible. These discussions are independent of whether this season is ultimately resumed or canceled, Wojnarowski adds.
Talks have centered on starting the season prior to Christmas and completing it in late July or early August. The NBA draft and free agency would be pushed back until after the season.
Earlier in the day, the Board voted to postpone the draft lottery and the draft combine. It hasn’t voted on delaying the June 25 draft but that seems like a formality at this point.
NBA Postpones Draft Lottery, Combine Indefinitely
3:41pm: As expected, the NBA has indefinitely postponed the lottery and combine, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
11:21am: Now that the calendar has turned to May, the NBA will have to start making some decisions about its own calendar, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times, who points to the May 19 draft lottery and subsequent draft combine as upcoming events that will need to be addressed. Both the lottery and combine are expected to be officially postponed soon, tweets Stein.
[RELATED: Tentative 2020 NBA Draft Dates, Deadlines]
As Stein explains (via Twitter), as long as there’s still hope that the resumption of the 2019/20 season is possible, it doesn’t make sense for the NBA to move forward with its full pre-draft process. The lottery, in particular, is tied to the final regular-season standings, so if there’s still a chance that those standings could change, the lottery will have to wait.
Anthony Slater of The Athletic, who wrote earlier this week about the possibility of the lottery being delayed, heard from one executive that front offices would likely want at least three weeks or so between the lottery and the draft to give teams time to adjust to their exact placement.
[RELATED: What 2020 Lottery Odds Would Look Like If Season Doesn’t Resume]
Currently, the draft is scheduled for June 25, but it will certainly be postponed too if the season can be resumed, since the NBA will want the draft to take place in the offseason. Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer wrote this week that league sources expect it to be pushed back to August or September — the exact date will hinge in large part on if and when the season can be completed.
As for the combine, even with a two- or three-month delay, it’s hard to imagine it taking place as it normally would. While the NBA could formally postpone it for now, the event may have to eventually be canceled. Still, I’d imagine the league office is exploring virtual alternatives to the usual format, with teams likely pushing the NBA for a way to access prospects’ medical information that would typically be collected at the combine.
Opposing Teams Expected To Monitor Pacers, Oladipo
Teams around the NBA are keeping an eye on the situation in Indiana, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv, who notes that Victor Oladipo will be entering a contract year in 2020/21 if he and the Pacers don’t agree to an extension before then.
ESPN’s Zach Lowe reported in February that the Pacers and Oladipo “very briefly” discussed the possibility of a contract extension prior to the start of the 2019/20 campaign. Sources tell Begley that the idea of a four-year, $80MM extension was brought up during those talks, which didn’t progress much beyond that point.
Technically, since Oladipo had two years left on his current deal prior to this season, an extension couldn’t have exceeded three years, totaling five overall. As such, Begley’s four-year figure may have included the guard’s $21MM salary for 2020/21.
Once the ’20/21 league year begins, Oladipo will once again become extension-eligible and could then tack on up to four new years to his expiring deal. Because the starting salary on a veteran extension is limited to 120% of a player’s previous salary, Oladipo could receive up to $25.2MM in year one, maxing out at about $113MM over four years.
[RELATED: Hoops Rumors Glossary: Veteran Contract Extension]
There’s no reason to believe at this point that the Pacers won’t make a strong push to retain Oladipo. It’s worth noting that Indiana has already made long-term commitments of at least $18MM per year to three other players – Malcolm Brogdon, Domantas Sabonis, and Myles Turner – and that the club had a better record without Oladipo this season (32-20) than with him (7-6). But that sample size was small and the two-time All-Star was coming off a major quad injury that has sidelined him for a full year.
Additionally, while the Pacers don’t have a ton of cap flexibility in future years, they hold Oladipo’s Bird rights and – depending on where the cap lands going forward – could likely stay out of the tax while re-signing him, either to an extension or as an unrestricted free agent in 2021.
Still, as Begley writes, if the 2019/20 season can be resumed, teams around the league figure to be monitoring Oladipo and the Pacers to see how his chemistry with Brogdon and the rest of the team develops.