Cuban: Luka Hasn’t Asked For Roster Changes
Within a larger feature about the career paths of 2018 lottery picks Luka Doncic and Trae Young, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon cites sources who say Doncic has “strongly indicated” that he wants the Mavericks to upgrade their roster ahead of the February 9 trade deadline.
However, Mavs owner Mark Cuban denies that’s the case.
“Tim MacMahon got it dead wrong. Luka has never suggested, asked, demanded or discussed changes to the roster,” Cuban said in a statement (Twitter links via MacMahon). “Luka and (president of basketball operations) Nico (Harrison) have a great relationship. They talk almost daily. Luka knows exactly what we have going on and is very supportive.”
Doncic has been carrying a significant load in Dallas this season. He has a career-high 38.2% usage rate and leads the NBA with 33.8 points per game.
Christian Wood has emerged as a consistent second scorer, and role players like Spencer Dinwiddie and Tim Hardaway Jr. are having solid seasons, but the team has missed last season’s second-leading scorer, Jalen Brunson, and could use more reinforcements to make a real run at a title.
Still, while reports in the past have indicated that the Mavs’ front office keeps Doncic apprised of potential roster moves, he hasn’t yet exhibited a strong desire to be involved in those decisions, as MacMahon notes. He also stated during the preseason that he didn’t believe Dallas needed another All-Star caliber player to be a contender, telling Malika Andrews that “we have a great team.”
Perhaps Doncic’s workload this season and the team’s up-and-down first half has prompted him to be proactive in conveying his desire for roster upgrades, but if Cuban is to be believed, the All-NBA guard isn’t pushing for changes.
Although Doncic has three more guaranteed years on his contract left after this one, the Mavs are likely still feeling a sense of urgency to build a strong roster around him, since we’ve seen star players request trades with multiple seasons left on their contracts in recent years. There’s no indication that Doncic has considered or will consider taking that route, but it will be a subplot to keep in mind if Dallas is unable to make another deep postseason run in the next year or two.
Celtics Notes: Poeltl, Brown, Pritchard, Ford
The Celtics, as previously reported, are interested in Spurs center Jakob Poeltl and have actually maintained that interest for several seasons, according to Jared Weiss of The Athletic. However, there are some roadblocks that would complicate a Celtics trade for Poeltl.
As Weiss writes, the Spurs’ asking price is one of those obstacles. San Antonio is seeking two first-round picks in exchange for Poeltl (as previously reported), which is the same price the team set for Derrick White a year ago.
The Celtics ultimately acquired White in exchange for a lightly protected first-round pick and a very lightly protected future first-round pick swap, and perhaps the Spurs would accept a similar return for Poeltl, but that would still be a substantial price to pay for a free-agent-to-be who may require a $20MM annual commitment this summer, Weiss observes. Especially when re-signing Grant Williams may also be a priority in Boston.
Additionally, while Poeltl would be an ideal insurance policy in the event of a Robert Williams injury, his role likely wouldn’t be all that significant as long as Williams and Al Horford are both healthy, which is an argument against Boston giving up multiple valuable assets for him.
Ultimately, Weiss thinks the most likely Celtics move at the trade deadline might just involve a second-round pick for a solid bench piece, rather than another major splash involving a first-rounder.
Here’s more on the Celtics:
- Like Weiss, Chris Forsberg of NBC Sports Boston considers whether the Celtics really need to make a trade deadline move and outlines why a deal for someone like Poeltl would be complicated.
- Having missed the Celtics’ last three games due to a right adductor injury, Jaylen Brown went through a full practice on Wednesday and could be on the verge of returning to action (Twitter link via team). Brown’s official status for Thursday’s Finals rematch vs. Golden State is TBD, but he hopes to play. “Feeling good. We’ll see how I feel after this (workout) today,” Brown said (Twitter link via Forsberg). “… I think I’m good. So I’ll be looking forward to tomorrow … If I can go, I’m going.”
- The Warriors are among the teams that have inquired about the availability of Celtics guard Payton Pritchard, league sources tell Brian Robb of MassLive.com. However, Pritchard’s ability to capably fill a rotation spot in the event of an injury like Brown’s makes Boston somewhat reluctant to move him, Robb notes.
- The Celtics have announced the death of former player and coach Chris Ford, who played for the team from 1978-82 and coached in Boston from 1983-95, first as an assistant, then as the head coach. Ford won titles with the team as a player (1981) and as an assistant coach (1984 and 1986), and is also known for making the first three-point shot in NBA history.
Suns’ Cameron Johnson Set To Return On Thursday
The injury-plagued Suns will get some reinforcements on Thursday vs. Brooklyn, as Cameron Johnson intends to make his return from a knee injury that has sidelined him for most of the season, according to the team (Twitter link).
Johnson tore the meniscus in his right knee in his eighth game of the season on November 4 and underwent surgery a few days later to remove a portion of his meniscus. Because the procedure involved trimming the meniscus rather than removing it, the 26-year-old will only end up missing about two-and-a-half months instead of most or all of the rest of the season.
Johnson had gotten off to a strong start to the season as the Suns’ full-time starter at power forward, averaging 14.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.3 steals per night in his seven healthy games (28.2 MPG), with a .457/.440/.727 shooting line.
The second half of the season will be crucial for both Johnson and the Suns — he’ll be eligible for restricted free agency this summer, while Phoenix had been looking to build on a 64-win season and emerge as a legitimate title threat.
Hit hard by injuries to Johnson, Devin Booker, Chris Paul, Cameron Payne, and others (and missing disgruntled forward Jae Crowder), the Suns are currently just 21-24, having lost 12 of their last 14 games.
Wizards Discussing Potential Rui Hachimura Trades
The Wizards have engaged in trade discusions with multiple teams about potential deals that would include forward Rui Hachimura, according to Shams Charania and Josh Robbins of The Athletic.
While Charania and Robbins don’t offer specifics on which teams have talked to Washington about Hachimura, The Athletic’s duo says the 24-year-old has drawn interest from “several Western Conference teams in need of scoring.” The Suns are one team that fits that bill and have been previously linked to Hachimura.
Another Wizards forward, Kyle Kuzma, continues to generate interest around the league, but Washington values him highly and would like to hang onto him, per Charania and Robbins.
Kuzma, Hachimura, and Kristaps Porzingis are all eligible for free agency during the 2023 offseason, so if the Wizards were to trade Hachimura, it would put them in a better position to focus on bringing back the other two. It may also signal a level of confidence in their ability to re-sign Kuzma, The Athletic’s reporters note, since trading Hachimura and then losing Kuzma in free agency would significantly deplete the club’s forward depth.
The ninth overall pick in the 2019 draft, Hachimura has missed some time due to injury this season, but has played well when available, averaging 12.9 PPG and 4.4 RPG on .492/.346/.768 shooting in 28 games (24.2 MPG). He’s earning approximately $6.26MM this season and will become a restricted free agent in July, assuming his team issues a qualifying offer that will likely be worth about $7.74MM.
Bradley Beal To Return On Wednesday
1:16pm: Beal will be available on Wednesday, the Wizards have confirmed (via Twitter).
12:31pm: Star guard Bradley Beal is expected to be back in the Wizards‘ lineup when the team visits the Knicks in New York on Wednesday night, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Beal has appeared in just six games since December 4 due to recurring hamstring issues. He sustained a low-grade right hamstring strain that cost him six games last month, returned for five contests, then injured his left hamstring. He attempted to come back from that injury following a three-game absence, but aggravated it in his first game back and has since missed five more contests due to a low-grade left hamstring strain.
The Wizards had an 11-12 record entering the December 4 game in which Beal initially injured his hamstring, but have slumped since then with their leading scorer in and out of the lineup. Washington has lost 14 of its last 21 games, including 10 of the 14 the team played without Beal.
After signing a five-year, maximum-salary contract with the Wizards in the offseason, Beal is averaging 22.9 points per game, his lowest mark since 2017/18. However, that’s due more to sharing the scoring load with Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Kuzma than to any dip in the 29-year-old’s scoring ability. Beal’s 16.4 shot attempts per game are his fewest since ’15/16, and he’s making a career-best 52.5% of his shots from the floor.
The 18-26 Wizards currently sit two games back of the No. 10 Bulls for the East’s final play-in spot.
Cavaliers Notes: Mitchell, Love, Rubio, Garland
Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell won’t be available for an inter-conference showdown in Memphis on Wednesday night, having been officially ruled out due to a left groin strain, per an Associated Press report.
Mitchell suffered the injury during the third quarter of Cleveland’s win over New Orleans on Monday and was held out of practice on Tuesday. He was originally listed as doubtful for Wednesday’s game vs. the Grizzlies before being downgraded to out.
It remains to be seen whether Mitchell will have to miss more time beyond tonight’s contest. The Cavs have a challenging back-to-back set on tap for this weekend, as they’ll host Golden State on Friday and Milwaukee on Saturday.
Here’s more on the Cavs:
- Cavaliers forward Kevin Love continues to be affected by a hairline fracture in his right thumb, as Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com details. At the time Love sustained the injury, on November 18, he had made 40.9% of his three-point attempts on the season. Since then, he has knocked down just 29.5%. “Still doesn’t feel right,” Love said on Monday after making just 1-of-7 shots from the field, including 0-of-4 threes.
- Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff said prior to Monday’s game that Ricky Rubio‘s minutes restriction would be bumped up to about 15 minutes as the team continues to monitor his return from a year-long ACL-related absence, tweets Kelsey Russo of The Athletic. Rubio, who played 10 minutes in his first game back and 13 in his second appearance, ended up logging 17 minutes on Monday.
- The Cavs like what they’ve seen this season from Darius Garland, who has adjusted nicely to sharing the backcourt with Mitchell and continues to grow as a team leader, Russo writes in a full story for The Athletic. “He’s still young — more years ahead of him than he has behind him,” Caris LeVert said of his teammate. “But I think he’s done a great job of feeling it out and not being afraid to put his voice out there, not being afraid to make mistakes even with communication. I think for us to just hear his voice is huge because, obviously, we all respect his game. So just for us to hear his voice is huge.”
Scotto’s Latest: Irving, Rockets, McMillan, D. Williams, Goodwin, Sumner
It seemed highly unlikely at times this past summer and fall that Nets star Kyrie Irving would even finish the season in Brooklyn, let alone stick with the team beyond 2022/23. But now several executives around the NBA believe that Irving will remain with the Nets this summer rather than leaving for a new team in free agency, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
“I think Kyrie ends up with a short extension with the Nets,” one executive predicted. “A sign-and-trade for Kyrie this summer would be tough given the length needed and assets to make it happen from another team. I think there’s an incentive for an extension on a one-plus-one or two-year deal.”
The Lakers, who were rumored to have interest in Irving during the 2022 offseason, loom as perhaps the biggest threat to lure him away from the Nets during the summer of 2023. They’re currently on track to open up about $30MM in cap space and could offer Kyrie the opportunity to form a Big Three alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Here’s more from Scotto:
- The Rockets are expected to go “star hunting” during the offseason, according to Scotto, who notes that Houston will have a significant chunk of cap space and wants to be more competitive in 2023/24.
- Echoing previous reports, Scotto says the prevailing belief from outside the Hawks‘ organization is that head coach Nate McMillan won’t still be coaching the team next season.
- Donovan Williams‘ new two-way contract with the Hawks covers next season in addition to the rest of this one, according to Scotto, who tweets that Atlanta has long been intrigued by Williams’ upside.
- Wizards two-way player Jordan Goodwin is a strong candidate to be promoted to Washington’s 15-man roster before the end of this season, assuming the team can open up a spot, league sources tell Scotto. Goodwin is 10th among Wizards in minutes played this season, having earned playing time over several players who are on standard contracts.
- Before he signed with the Nets over the summer, guard Edmond Sumner also received interest from the Suns, Pistons, and Pacers, per Scotto. Sumner worked out for Phoenix and had a workout scheduled with Detroit that he had to miss due to COVID-19.
Knicks Increase Efforts To Trade Cam Reddish
The Knicks have “redoubled” their efforts to find a new home for forward Cam Reddish, according to Marc Stein, who says in his latest Substack report that Reddish is the Knick most likely to be moved ahead of the February 9 trade deadline.
Stein confirms previous reporting from Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, stating that the Lakers and Bucks are among the teams with interest in Reddish. The Mavericks are another potential suitor, says Stein.
Scotto also previously reported that the Knicks are seeking a pair of second-round picks in a Reddish trade. Stein doesn’t dispute that the club is looking for “second-round draft compensation” in exchange for Reddish, though he doesn’t specify the number of picks New York is looking for.
Sources tell Stein that the Knicks have some interest in reacquiring Mavericks wing Reggie Bullock, who spent two seasons in New York from 2019-21 and was a favorite of head coach Tom Thibodeau. Although Reddish is earning just $5.95MM compared to Bullock’s $10.01MM salary, a one-for-one swap of the two players would be permitted under the NBA’s trade rules since the Knicks are well below the tax line.
Bullock is held in “high regard” by Dallas, per Stein, though he’s having a down year offensively, averaging just 5.8 points per game on .364/.338/.654 shooting in 43 games (29.3 MPG). The 31-year-old is considered a solid, versatile defender and played heavy minutes (39.3 MPG) during the Mavs’ playoff run last season.
Reddish, meanwhile, was a highly regarded college prospect and entered the NBA in 2019 as the 10th overall pick out of Duke, but has yet to deliver on his potential during four seasons in Atlanta and New York. The 23-year-old fell entirely out of Thibodeau’s rotation last month, having not appeared in a game for the Knicks since December 3.
Checking In On 10-Day Contracts
NBA teams gained the ability to sign players to 10-day contracts on January 5, which was 13 days ago. As a result, a few of the first 10-day deals signed this season have already expired.
Of the three players whose 10-day contracts have expired, only one – Joe Wieskamp of the Raptors – has received a second 10-day commitment. His new 10-day deal will run through next Thursday (January 26).
Lakers guard Sterling Brown had his 10-day deal expire on Sunday night and wasn’t re-signed by Los Angeles before the team took the floor on Monday, which is an indication that L.A. is exploring other options for that roster spot. Meyers Leonard and DeMarcus Cousins recently worked out for the Lakers and may be candidates to become the club’s 15th man for at least 10 days.
Spurs big man Gorgui Dieng saw his 10-day contract expire on Tuesday night following the team’s win over Brooklyn. Dieng was only on the court for a total of 74 seconds during his 10-day deal, but he has spent most of the season out of San Antonio’s rotation and the team has seemed happy to keep him around, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he receives another 10-day offer from the Spurs. It may not happen for another day or two though, since Dieng would only be available for four games instead of five if he re-signs before Thursday.
Since teams can only sign a player to two standard 10-day contracts in a season, the Raptors will have to decide next week whether to commit to Wieskamp for the rest of the season or let him walk. I’d guess the team will choose the latter path, at least for now — it wouldn’t make sense for Toronto to compromise its roster flexibility by filling its 15th spot with a guaranteed contract before the trade deadline arrives.
Brown would only be able to sign one more 10-day contract this season with the Lakers, while Dieng could do the same with the Spurs, though both players are free to sign two 10-day deals with any other team.
Three more 10-day contracts will expire later this week. PJ Dozier‘s deal with the Kings ends after tonight’s game, while Friday will mark the 10th day under contract for both Derrick Favors (with the Hawks) and Saben Lee (Suns).
Dozier has only seen garbage-time action for Sacramento and Favors has yet to take the court for Atlanta, but Lee is playing rotation minutes for an injury-ravaged Phoenix squad. He has averaged 10.0 points and 3.0 assists in 19.0 minutes per game in three appearances with the Suns, making him a strong candidate to spend at least 10 more days with the team beyond Friday.
Be sure to use our 10-day contract tracker and our roster counts page to keep tabs on the active 10-day contracts.
Western Notes: Wall, Rockets, Kessler, Gordon
Appearing on the Run Your Race podcast (YouTube link), Clippers point guard John Wall revisited his tenure with the Rockets, suggesting that the team went into tanking mode after trading James Harden during Wall’s first year in Houston. According to Wall, the culture during his stint with the club was so lax that he had to tell his young teammates not to get accustomed to how little was expected of them.
“I always talked to Jalen Green, Kevin Porter, K.J. (Kenyon Martin Jr.), I’m like, ‘Don’t get adjusted to this losing s–t, this is not how the league is,'” Wall said. “But at the same time, I had to tell them, like, ‘This s–t y’all are getting away with over here, if you go to any other team, you’d be out of the f—ing league. You wouldn’t play.’ I’m trying to explain that to them because they think it’s sweet. But I’m like, ‘If you ever get traded and go somewhere else, you going to be like, ‘This motherf—er was right.””
Wall also reiterated his disappointment with how his second year in Houston played out, when he sat out for the entire season. Wall said he would have been fine playing for the rebuilding club and mentoring its young players, but wasn’t comfortable with the team asking him to accept a limited bench role of no more than 10 or 15 minutes per night when he felt as if the Rockets’ prospects were being handed starting jobs instead of earning them.
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Kelly Iko and Sam Vecenie of The Athletic rank the Rockets‘ players in terms of value, agreeing that Jalen Green and Jabari Smith are in the top tier and Tari Eason and Alperen Sengun are in the second. However, the two authors disagree on the order within those tiers, as Iko favors Green and Eason while Vecenie prefers Smith and Sengun.
- Jazz rookie Walker Kessler had his best game of the season on Monday against the team that drafted him, racking up 20 points and 21 rebounds in a one-point win over Minnesota. As Tony Jones of The Athletic observes, it was the latest instance of Kessler showing why Utah lobbied to have him included in the Rudy Gobert blockbuster over the summer and why the Timberwolves initially resisted his inclusion after having just drafted the young center.
- Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon has been the second-best player for the top team in the Western Conference so far this season and is building a strong case for an All-Star spot with his two-way play, writes Law Murray of The Athletic. “For us to be the team that wanted to win at a high level, we had to have a much greater buy-in and commitment (on defense). And Aaron definitely fits that bill,” head coach Michael Malone said. “He guards the other team’s best player almost every night. And he never shies away from a challenge. … We wouldn’t be where we’re at at the halfway point without Aaron Gordon’s play, his attitude, and his team-first mentality.”