And-Ones: Flopping, Coach’s Challenge, Grant, Luxury Tax Payments
The NBA will be testing out a proposed in-game penalty for flopping during summer league contests, according to ESPN. A flop, which will be determined by in-game referees, will be penalized by awarding the opposing team a free throw. The player who commits the flop will be assessed a unsportsmanlike technical foul, which won’t count toward personal fouls or lead to an ejection.
The league’s Board of Governors will vote on July 11 regarding the implementation of the flopping penalty for next season, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets. The Board will also vote on a second coach’s challenge to be awarded if the first challenge is successful.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- Panathinaikos Athens is interested in signing 2023 EuroCup MVP Jerian Grant, Eurohoops’ Stavros Barbarousis reports. The Greek club is looking at Grant as a key reserve. Grant appeared in 279 NBA games from 2016-20. In 18 regular season EuroCup games last season, Grant averaged 14.6 points per game on 57.1% shooting. He also contributed 6.2 assists and 3.1 rebounds per contest.
- Teams below the 2022/23 luxury tax line received $15.1MM apiece, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets. The biggest taxpayers, the Warriors and Clippers, contributed a combined $300MM to the pool.
- Have you heard about the new second round exception in the CBA? Get the details here.
Northwest Notes: Lillard, Holmgren, Micic, Edwards
Since Damian Lillard made his trade request on Saturday, it has been made clear by various reporters that he’s focused on landing with the Heat, but that the Trail Blazers don’t seem overly enthusiastic about what Miami can offer. The belief is that if the Blazers are going to make a deal with Miami, they would want to involve a third team in order to secure more assets that appeal to them, likely in place of Tyler Herro, who would be redundant in Portland’s crowded backcourt.
In an ESPN appearance (YouTube link), Adrian Wojnarowski confirmed that the Blazers are “not impressed” by the assets that the Heat have to offer, adding that Portland has been fielding calls from various teams around the NBA who are inquiring to see what it might take to land Lillard. While the Blazers could potentially get a stronger package from another team, it also remains to be seen how the star guard might respond if he’s sent somewhere he doesn’t want to be, which may give suitors outside of Miami pause about putting their best assets on the table.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter video link), the Blazers have explored multi-team trade scenarios that would send Lillard to the Heat and net Portland more draft assets than Miami has to offer directly.
“There are three- or four-team scenarios in a potential deal with the Heat that would potentially net the Blazers several first-round draft picks,” Charania said during an appearance on The Rally.
While Charania didn’t offer any further details, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report tries his hand at putting together some hypothetical multi-team Lillard deals that he believes are at least somewhat plausible.
As we await more signs of forward progress in the Lillard talks, here’s more from around the Northwest:
- After missing his entire rookie season due to a Lisfranc injury in his right foot, Thunder big man Chet Holmgren made his 2023 Summer League debut in Salt Lake City on Monday. As Tim MacMahon of ESPN writes, last year’s No. 2 overall pick looked a little rusty, but ended up with 15 points, nine rebounds, and four blocks — more importantly, the foot felt “great,” according to Holmgren. “It’s like the injury never happened, other than everything I had to go through obviously,” he said. “But at this point, if you erased my memory, I wouldn’t know that anything had happened to my foot other than the scars from surgery.”
- Numerous EuroLeague veterans have flopped in the NBA, but Vasilije Micic will try to buck that trend with the Thunder, Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman writes. Only 10 Europeans have debuted in the NBA at age 29 or older and a majority had limited success. Micic agreed to a three-year, $23.5MM contract over the weekend.
- With Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards set to sign a massive new maximum-salary extension, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic takes a look at some of the on- and off-court responsibilities that will come with Edwards’ new deal.
Mavericks Make Three Additions To Coaching Staff
The Mavericks have added three assistants to their staff.
Alex Jensen, who had been with the Jazz since 2013, is leaving Utah to join Jason Kidd’s staff, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Bryan Gates is also coming to Dallas as an assistant, Wojnarowski adds in another tweet. Josh Broghamer is another newcomer to Dallas, according to Marc Stein (Twitter link).
Jensen played a major role in Rudy Gobert‘s development, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPN, noting that rookie big man Dereck Lively should “benefit tremendously” from Jensen’s tutelage.
Prior to his stint in Utah, Jensen was the first coach for the G League Canton Charge.
Gates spent the past two seasons as an assistant with the Suns under Monty Williams. He has also worked as an NBA assistant in Sacramento (2009-10 and 2016-19), New Orleans (2010-15) and Minnesota (2015-16 and 2019-21).
Broghamer comes over from the Cavaliers, where he served as the director of advance scouting and player development. He previously worked for the Bucks when Kidd was their head coach.
The Mavericks let go of three assistants after failing to make the playoffs, Callie Caplan of the Dallas Morning News notes. Lead offensive assistant Greg St. Jean, shooting coach Peter Patton and Quinton Crawford were not retained. Patton has since joined the Bulls’ staff, while Crawford wound up with the Suns.
Atlantic Notes: Punter, Fournier, Knicks, Nets, Lillard, Herro
EuroLeague star Kevin Punter had serious contract talks with the Raptors but the 30-year-old shooting guard decided to stay overseas, Cesare Milanti of Eurohoops.net relays. Punter would up extending his contract with Partizan Belgrade for two years after rejecting an offer from FC Barcelona. Punter averaged 15.5 points in 34 EuroLeague games last season while making 41.7% of his 3-point attempts and 90.6% of his free throw attempts.
“We were talking with the Raptors really heavily. I thought that was going to be an opportunity. We’ve been speaking with them for a while now, so I thought that was possible I was going to go to Toronto,” he told Donatas Urbonas of BasketNews during a podcast. “It didn’t work out. Obviously, it’s a game of leverage. You can’t give the NBA too much of your leverage because the NBA will take it and run with it.”
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Evan Fournier and his expiring $18.9MM contract remains the biggest issue hanging over the Knicks, Zach Braziller of the New York Post writes. Fournier is in limbo, with no future in the organization. However, his contract would come in handy if the Knicks have a chance to complete a blockbuster trade. His salary could also facilitate a deal for a backup power forward in the aftermath of the Obi Toppin trade with the Pacers.
- The Knicks are still far from their goal of being a championship-level team, Steve Popper of Newsday opines. They must determine whether to surrender their assets — including RJ Barrett or Immanuel Quickley — for an impact player such as Karl-Anthony Towns, Zach LaVine or OG Anunoby.
- The cost of acquiring a star like Damian Lillard or a top-notch offensive player like Tyler Herro might not be in the Nets’ long-term interests, according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post. Brooklyn isn’t close to contending for a title and even a perennial All-Star Lillard won’t change that, so the team would be better off exercising patience rather than taking on either of those multiyear contracts, Lewis concludes.
Rockets Rumors: Lucas, Powell, Landale, VanVleet
Longtime Rockets assistant John Lucas won’t be part of Ime Udoka’s staff but he’ll remain in the organization, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle reports. He’ll move to a front office role, working as an assistant to GM Rafael Stone.
Lucas, a former Cavaliers, Spurs and Sixers head coach, joined Mike D’Antoni’s staff in Houston during the 2016/17 season and has been with the franchise since then.
We have more on the Rockets:
- Houston’s first-year offer to Mavericks free agent Dwight Powell was higher than the $8MM Jock Landale will receive next season as part of his four-year, $32MM contract agreement with Houston, Marc Stein reports in a Substack post. Powell decided to take the Mavs’ three-year offer, even though it totaled only $12MM. Only the first year of Landale’s contract is guaranteed — it’s probably safe to assume the same was true of the offer for Powell.
- Speaking of Landale, he knows he has to show the Rockets he’s worthy of getting the full value to his contract, he told ESPN’s Olgun Uluc. “I felt as though I’d worked my way to when I played and when I played heavy minutes, I always produced,” Landale said. “If I can get the trust of a coach who has the front office behind me, and they’re all supportive of the decision, absolutely I believe I can play to that contract. I also feel that, given it’s non-guaranteed, there’s no ability for me to take my foot off the gas, and I feel that’s really important and plays into my character a bit. I’ve still got to earn everything.”
- While they paid an extremely high price financially, the Rockets finally have a much-needed stabilizing presence, leader and offensive connector in Fred VanVleet, Kelly Iko of The Athletic writes. Houston’s offense lacked cohesion and control in recent seasons and VanVleet’s presence should change that.
Magic Waive Bol Bol
The Magic have waived forward/center Bol Bol, the team announced today in a press release (Twitter link).
Bol had been on an expiring contract, with a non-guaranteed $2.2MM salary for 2023/24. That money was originally on track to become guaranteed if the big man remained on the roster through June 30, but he and the team agreed to push back the deadline.
The new guarantee date was Tuesday, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks, so Orlando decided to cut Bol before locking in his $2.2MM for the coming season.
Bol’s unique skill for his slender 7’2″ frame – including an ability to handle the ball – has long intrigued teams and fans, but he was limited to 53 games in Denver during his first three NBA seasons due to injuries. He enjoyed his best NBA season in 2022/23, staying on the floor for 70 games and averaging 9.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks in 21.5 minutes per night.
While Bol’s overall numbers were solid, it was a tale of two seasons for the former second-round pick. He put up 11.9 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 1.6 BPG with an impressive .584/.361/.740 shooting line in his first 41 appearances. In his final 29 games, he scored double-digit points just three times and had averages of 5.1 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 0.7 BPG on .447/.098/.806 shooting.
It sounds like the Magic determined after the season that Bol wasn’t part of their plans going forward. According to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), Orlando was exploring trading him around the time of the draft. The Suns and Mavericks were two teams mentioned as possible landing spots, though it’s not clear if either would still have interest, Fischer says.
A team would require $2.2MM in cap room or a trade exception that could cover that amount in order to place a waiver claim on Bol. If he’s not claimed, he’ll become an unrestricted free agent on Thursday.
The roster move gets Orlando down to 15 players on standard contracts for 2023/24.
Celtics Rumors: G. Williams, Brown, Porzingis, Brogdon
The Celtics still have at least two major pieces of business to deal with in the coming days, according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic, who hears that team and league sources anticipate resolution on Grant Williams‘ restricted free agency before Jaylen Brown‘s contract extension.
The Hawks, Hornets, Mavericks, Knicks, and Wizards all remain contenders for Williams, says Weiss, noting that either a sign-and-trade deal or a mid-level offer has been considered the likeliest outcome for the RFA forward.
Multiple league sources tell Weiss they believe the Celtics would consider matching any offer worth up to the full non-taxpayer mid-level, but the team may not have the appetite to go much higher than that. If a rival suitor wants Williams badly enough, negotiating a sign-and-trade would ensure there would be no risk of Boston matching an offer sheet, but the Celtics have been seeking a first-round pick in sign-and-trade talks, Weiss reports.
Here’s more on the Celtics:
- Weiss reiterates a point made by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, writing that even though Brown is eligible for a super-max contract extension, there are details to negotiate, including whether or not the deal will include incentives and whether it will feature a player option. While negotiations are expected to “pick up steam” soon, the sense is that once Williams’ situation is resolved, the Celtics will have a clearer picture of how they’ll build around Brown’s extension, Weiss explains.
- Kristaps Porzingis, who will earn $36MM in 2023/24, is expected to earn approximately $28.8MM in ’24/25 and $31.2MM in ’25/26 on his new two-year, $60MM extension. As Weiss writes, that pay drop will help the Celtics manage their tax situation and potentially avoid the second tax apron in future seasons, depending on what happens with Brown and Williams.
- While one weekend report indicated the Celtics aren’t trying to move Malcolm Brogdon, Weiss doesn’t believe the possibility of a Brogdon deal has been entirely ruled out. If Boston were to deal Brogdon or Williams (via sign-and-trade), the team would likely prioritize acquiring a ball-handler who could complement Derrick White in the backcourt, Weiss says.
Trail Blazers Sign No. 43 Pick Rayan Rupert
The Trail Blazers have officially signed second-round pick Rayan Rupert to his first NBA contract, the team announced today in a press release.
Rupert, who just turned 19 in May, played for the New Zealand Breakers last season as part of the Next Stars program in Australia’s National Basketball League. A broken wrist limited him to 20 regular season games, in which he averaged 6.6 PPG and 2.5 RPG on 36.4% shooting.
Although Rupert’s numbers for the Breakers weren’t great, NBA teams were intrigued by his size – 6’7″ with a 7’3″ wingspan – as well as his maturity and his unselfish playing style, as Jonathan Givony of ESPN wrote when the French teenager declared for the draft. He has also flashed some potential as a three-point shooter, making 10-of-16 attempts during the NBL Blitz preseason tournament in September.
International prospects drafted in the second round frequently end up being stashed overseas for at least a year or two, but that clearly wasn’t the plan for Rupert — the No. 43 overall pick immediately received an NBA contract and will be in Portland in 2023/24.
The Blazers’ announcement doesn’t include any further details on Rupert’s deal, but there’s no indication it’s a two-way contract, so the team likely gave him three or four years using the NBA’s new second-round pick exception.
Washington, Williams, Thybulle Among RFAs Still Available
Of the eight free players on our list of top 50 free agents who have yet to reach new deals, five are restricted free agents. Those five restricted free agents are also the only ones still available at all (not including those coming off on two-way deals). Those players are as follows:
P.J. Washington (Hornets)- Grant Williams (Celtics)
- Matisse Thybulle (Trail Blazers)
- Ayo Dosunmu (Bulls)
- Paul Reed (Sixers)
While I’m sure these five players would’ve preferred to agree to lucrative new contracts in the opening hours of free agency, it’s not necessarily an ominous sign that they’ve yet to line up new deals four days later. It can sometimes take a little longer for the market for restricted free agents to develop, but it doesn’t mean they won’t get paid.
A year ago, for instance, Deandre Ayton didn’t sign his maximum-salary offer sheet with the Pacers (which was quickly matched by the Suns) until July 14, two weeks after the start of free agency. Collin Sexton, who received a four-year, $71MM in a sign-and-trade deal that sent him to Utah as part of the Donovan Mitchell blockbuster, didn’t resolve his restricted free agency until September.
The same thing happens with a few restricted free agents just about every year. In 2021, RFAs like Josh Hart (three years, $38MM) and Lauri Markkanen (four years, $67MM) took multiple weeks to reach new contract agreements.
In other words, there’s still plenty of time for Washington, Williams, Thybulle, Dosunmu, and Reed to find deals they like.
Washington, Williams, and Thybulle, in particular, seem like good bets to cash in sooner or later. A report over the weekend indicated that Washington was drawing interest from multiple teams besides the Hornets. Williams has reportedly received interest from Charlotte and Dallas, with the Mavericks also said to be keeping an eye on Thybulle.
It would be a surprise if any of them had to settle for a below-market deal. It sounds like teams are still in the process of figuring out if an offer sheet will be an exercise in futility or if there’s a legitimate chance to pry away one of those players from his current club — and if so, what the price point would be.
There hasn’t been as much chatter about Dosunmu or Reed, but there haven’t been any red flags on either front. Their qualifying offers ($5.2MM for Dosunmu; $2.3MM for Reed) remain in place as one-year fallback options.
The Spurs are the one team that still has enough cap room to make a strong play for any of those top RFAs, if they so choose. The Rockets may also be able to offer more than the full mid-level, depending on how all their moves shake out, and teams below the tax apron are free to try to negotiate sign-and-trades.
It has become pretty rare for restricted free agents to change teams via offer sheets, but sign-and-trade deals aren’t uncommon — they get the player to his preferred landing spot while ensuring that his old team picks up an asset or two.
There are still several unrestricted free agents whose landing spots will be worth watching too, including Christian Wood, Kelly Oubre, Hamidou Diallo, Jaylen Nowell, and Dario Saric. But at this point in free agency, it’s the RFA market that looks more intriguing.
Raptors Announce Darko Rajakovic’s 2023/24 Coaching Staff
The Raptors will have a new head coach and a new-look coaching staff for the 2023/24 NBA season. After parting ways with Nick Nurse in April and hiring Darko Rajakovic in June, the team issued a press release on Tuesday announcing what Rajakovic’s staff will look like.
“This coaching staff reflects the team we want to see on the court – high character, high energy, and high creativity,” Rajakovic said in a statement. “We’ve already begun the work we know needs to be done as we head into our first season in Toronto together. We’re excited by the talent, by our team’s potential, and by the job ahead.”
Here are the Raptors’ assistants under Rajakovic for ’23/24, including several names that were previously reported:
Front of the bench:
- Pat Delany, an experienced NBA assistant who has worked for Charlotte, Orlando, and – most recently – the Wizards.
- Jama Mahlalela, who is returning to Toronto after spending eight seasons with the Raptors from 2013-21 (six as an assistant and two as the Raptors 905 head coach). He was an assistant with the Warriors from 2021-23.
- James Wade, who has spent the last five seasons in the WNBA as the general manager and head coach of the Chicago Sky. He was previously an assistant under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio from 2012-16.
Second row:
- Mike Batiste, a former assistant with the Hornets, the Magic, and – this past season – the Rockets. He has also held player development roles with the Nets and Wizards.
- Vin Bhavnani, a longtime member of the Thunder organization who was an assistant coach for the last four seasons after serving as the manager of advance scouting/player development for five years.
- Drew Jones, who was most recently a Pistons assistant from 2021-23.
- Jim Sann, who has been with the Raptors as an assistant coach since 2016/17, serving under both Dwane Casey and Nurse.
- Ivo Simovic, an experienced assistant at the NCAA level. He was on UCLA’s staff last season.
The Raptors have also hired Noah Lewis and Rashaun Broadus as assistant video coordinators/player development coaches, per today’s announcement.