Bucks’ Lasry Reportedly Looking To Sell Stake In Team
Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry is actively looking to sell his stake in the franchise, Marc Stein reports on Substack.
Stein referenced the possibility of a shake-up within the Bucks’ ownership group earlier this week, writing that “whispers have been circulating with increasing frequency” that Lasry could be open to selling his share of the team. His latest report suggests in strongest terms that it’s something to keep a close eye on in 2023.
Sources tell Stein that Lasry may end up selling his stake to his co-owner, Wes Edens, which would allow Edens to assume full controlling ownership of the franchise.
However, Lasry is also open to other options, according to Stein, who notes that The Ringer’s Bill Simmons recently reported on his podcast that Mat Ishbia spoke to Lasry about purchasing his stake in the Bucks before reaching an agreement to buy the Suns from Robert Sarver.
The Suns’ sale to Ishbia has led to speculation that we could see more NBA franchises – or minority stakes – change hands in the near future. The Suns were valued at $4 billion in that sale agreement, well above the $2.7 billion estimate Forbes published in the fall. With a new media rights deal around the corner and the possibility of expansion looming, the prices of NBA teams appear to be on the rise, which could make it a good time for current majority and minority stakeholders to cash out.
Forbes valued the Bucks at $2.3 billion in October, but presumably Lasry would be able to secure a higher valuation if he were to sell his portion of the team. He and Edens – along with a handful of minority investors, including Jamie Dinan – purchased the club from Herb Kohl for a reported sale price of $550MM in 2014.
Southeast Notes: M. Williams, Kuzma, Wright, O. Robinson
Hornets fans anxious to see rookie center Mark Williams are getting their chance with Nick Richards still considered day-to-day due to a right ankle sprain, writes Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer.
After playing just 13 minutes in three games prior to this week, Williams logged a total of 34 minutes on Monday and Tuesday and acquitted himself well, registering 15 points, eight rebounds, three steals, and a pair of blocks. He also had a positive net rating in both games despite the fact that the Hornets lost by 11 and five points, respectively.
“He was impressive,” Hornets head coach Steve Clifford said after Monday’s loss. “The way he handled himself, his poise on the court, his basket protection, we were very organized when we were on the floor. He did a good job in his pick-and-roll coverage and I thought he did a really, really, good job.”
As Williams makes a bid for a larger role in Charlotte, here’s more from around the Southeast:
- Although Marc Stein reported earlier in the week that Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma is considered increasingly likely to be available at this season’s deadline, not everyone is hearing the same thing. One league source who spoke to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype said that the Wizards internally consider Kuzma to be a “big part of the future.”
- After winning in Sacramento on Friday and vs. Philadelphia on Tuesday, the Wizards are now 5-1 this season when Delon Wright is active. Head coach Wes Unseld Jr. suggested after Tuesday’s victory that the team’s success when Wright plays isn’t merely coincidental, per Josh Robbins of The Athletic. “His impact was immediate, even just picking up (opposing ballhandlers), pestering (them),” Unseld said. “You know, it’s tough when you’ve got minute restrictions, for good reason, but he does a lot of good things out there, and some of them that don’t fall into the box score. But there’s a presence, and I think guys (on the other team) are kind of looking over their shoulder because they know he has a defensive feel to him.”
- Heat center Orlando Robinson is making a strong impression on the team with his recent performances, including a 15-point, nine-rebound showing against Minnesota on Monday, but he can only be active for 27 more games due to the limitations of his two-way contract, observes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Robinson’s recent play prompts Chiang to wonder if the big man is emerging as the frontrunner to take Miami’s 15th standard roster spot later in the season once signing a player will no longer put the team’s salary into the tax.
Devin Booker Out At Least Four Weeks With Groin Strain
After returning to Phoenix to undergo additional evaluation on his injured left leg, Suns guard Devin Booker has been diagnosed with a left groin strain and will be sidelined for the foreseeable future.
According to the team (Twitter link), Booker will be reevaluated in four weeks, meaning he’ll be on the shelf until at least late January.
Booker initially missed a pair of games on December 11 and 13 due to left hamstring tightness. He returned for two games, including a 58-point outburst against New Orleans on Dec. 17, then missed three more due to left groin soreness. He attempted to return on Christmas Day vs. Denver, but only played about four minutes before reaggravating the injury.
Booker’s absence is the latest setback for a Suns team that has had some bad injury luck so far this season. Starting point guard Chris Paul missed 14 games in November and December due to a heel problem, starting forward Cameron Johnson has been out since November 4 while rehabbing a knee injury, and key reserve Cameron Payne has been unavailable for Phoenix’s last seven games due to a foot issue.
Of course, the Suns have been without Jae Crowder all season as the front office looks to trade him. The club also has an open spot on its 15-man roster.
Playing without Booker will be the biggest challenge yet for the Suns, who are 2-4 this season without their leading scorer available (2-5 counting Sunday’s loss to the Nuggets), even after an impressive win over Memphis on Tuesday. Phoenix has a 20-15 overall record this season, but could have a hard time keeping pace in the West with eight of its next 10 games on the road.
In 28 games entering Christmas Day, Booker had averaged 28.0 points, 5.8 assists, and 4.8 rebounds in 35.6 minutes per night, with a shooting line of .477/.370/.850.
Hoops Rumors Glossary: 10-Day Contracts
During the early part of an NBA season, a team that wants to sign a player to a short-term contract generally does so by agreeing to a non-guaranteed deal, giving the club the flexibility to waive him without paying his full-season salary. But non-guaranteed contracts are only an option until January 7 — any standard, rest-of-season deal signed after that date must be guaranteed for the season.
Around the same time the league-wide salary guarantee date arrives, the NBA gives teams the ability to sign players to 10-day contracts, which essentially replace non-guaranteed deals during the second half of the season.
Ten-day contracts can be signed each year beginning on January 5 and are exactly what they sound like — contracts that cover 10 days (including the day they’re signed). A player who signs a 10-day deal on January 5 would remain eligible to play for his team through January 14, but not on January 15, unless he signs a new contract.
A team can sign a player to as many as two 10-day contracts before committing to him for the rest of the season or, as in many cases, turning him away. A player can’t sign three 10-day standard contracts with the same team, but after signing two 10-day deals with one club, he’s allowed to sign another with a separate club.
The NBA has tweaked this rule in recent years to allow three or more 10-day contracts with the same team for players who are signed via the hardship provision. Last season, for instance, Drew Eubanks ended up signing five 10-day deals with the Trail Blazers. A team qualifies for a hardship exception when it meets certain criteria — those criteria have evolved in recent years to cover COVID-19 cases, but historically involved the club having at least four injured players.
While a team signing a player to a standard 10-day contract must have an open spot on its 15-man roster to accommodate the signing, a player signed via the hardship provision doesn’t count against that 15-man limit.
Even though they can technically be worth more, 10-day deals are almost always worth a prorated portion of the player’s minimum salary. A minimum-salary 10-day contract for a rookie this season will be worth $58,493, or 10/174ths of the full-season rookie minimum salary. A one-year veteran would earn $94,136. A minimum-salary 10-day deal for any veteran of two or more seasons would represent a cost of $105,522 to the team.
Veterans with more than two years of NBA experience would earn more than $105,522 on a 10-day contract, but the league would pay the extra freight. However, teams gain no financial advantage if they eschew 10-day contracts with more experienced players to sign rookies or one-year veterans to 10-day deals in an effort to reduce their tax penalty — those deals count the same as the ones for two-year veterans when the league calculates a team’s salary for tax purposes.
Teams would have to pay slightly more if they sign a player to a 10-day contract and they have fewer than three games on their schedule over that 10-day period. In those cases, the length of the 10-day contract is extended so that it covers three games for the team.
It’s rare that any team would have such a light schedule, since most play at least three games a week, but the rule generally comes into play for contracts signed just before the All-Star break. If the Knicks were to sign a player to a 10-day contract on February 13 this season, for instance, his contract would actually cover 12 days, since New York plays games on Feb. 13, Feb. 15, and then not again until Feb. 24.
Here are a few more rules related to 10-day contracts:
- A team may terminate a 10-day contract before it runs to term if it wants to use the roster spot to accommodate a waiver claim, signing, or trade acquisition.
- Players whose 10-day contracts are terminated early don’t go on waivers, so they become free agents immediately. Still, those players receive their full 10-day salaries — the contracts are fully guaranteed for the 10 days.
- A team with a full 15-man roster is permitted to have up to three active players on 10-day contracts.
- A 10-day deal must be a standard NBA contract. In other words, a team can’t sign a player to a two-way, 10-day contract.
Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.
Earlier versions of this post were published in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 by Luke Adams and Chuck Myron.
New York Notes: Fournier, Reddish, Kemba, Warren, Durant
The Knicks were without Jalen Brunson on Tuesday in Dallas and lost RJ Barrett early in the first quarter due to a finger injury, but Evan Fournier and Cam Reddish still didn’t see any action, nor did they expect to, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News.
“We already knew,” Fournier said. “So I’m not surprised.”
Fournier and Reddish were regulars for the Knicks earlier in the season, with Fournier starting seven games and Reddish starting eight. However, they’ve fallen out of the rotation completely in recent weeks, and they’re not sure what it’ll take to get another look, according to Bondy.
“I’m going to be 1000% honest with you — you probably know more about that than me,” Reddish said. “I have no idea. None.”
“It’s been six weeks that I’m not playing. I’ve been pretty patient,” Fournier said. “It’s starting to be a little long. Maybe there’s going to be an opportunity, I don’t know.”
Both Fournier and Reddish are candidates to be on the move prior to February’s trade deadline.
Here’s more on the NBA’s two New York teams:
- Both Kemba Walker and Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau stressed that there are no hard feelings about how last season played out, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. Walker referred to his decision to shut himself down in February as “selfish,” but pointed out that he wasn’t playing much and needed to get his body right. “The only issue we had with Kemba was health,” Thibodeau said. “If Kemba’s healthy, he’s a great guy and he’s a great player.”
- Veteran forward T.J. Warren, who signed a minimum-salary contract with the Nets during the summer, is making a case to be the offseason’s best bargain, says Brian Lewis of The New York Post. After returning from a long injury absence, Warren is starting to hit his stride, setting new season highs with 23 points and eight rebounds in 27 minutes in Monday’s win over Cleveland. He’s also making an impact on the defensive end of the court. “What’s surprising was how good he is deflecting the basketball on defense,” teammate Kevin Durant said. “Scorers like him get a rap on defense, but he’s made an impact on that end. He’s a natural.”
- The Nets‘ recent hot streak is proving that the front office’s decision not to trade Durant when he asked to be moved over the summer was the right one and showing why you hang onto a player of his caliber, according to Jonathan Lehman of The New York Post (subscription required).
Jazz, Hawks, Suns Discussed Possible Three-Team Trade
The Jazz, Hawks, and Suns discussed a possible three-team trade that would have sent John Collins to Utah and Jae Crowder to Atlanta, Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported during an appearance on The Rally (Twitter video link).
As Charania outlines, Phoenix would have acquired swingman Malik Beasley and forward Jarred Vanderbilt from the Jazz in the proposed deal, while Utah would have received Collins and other assets and Atlanta would have gotten Crowder and at least one other player.
Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reports that Suns guard Landry Shamet was also included in those trade talks and would have been sent to the Hawks along with Crowder in at least one proposed framework.
According to Charania, the trade failed to gain serious traction because Utah was seeking multiple first-round picks along with Collins.
That Jazz asking price is both an indication of how they view Collins’ long-term contract (he’s owed $78.5MM for three years after this season) and how they value Beasley and Vanderbilt. Scotto has heard from rival executives that the Jazz consider Vanderbilt to be worth a first-round pick based on his production, age (23), and contract ($4.7MM team option for 2023/24).
While Charania’s report doesn’t make it 100% clear, it sounds as if Utah may have been seeking one first-round pick from Atlanta and one from Phoenix in the proposed swap. However, the Hawks don’t consider Collins a player they want to salary-dump, according to Charania, so they’d probably be reluctant to attach a first-round selection to him for a non-star, especially after having already surrendered multiple future first-rounders for Dejounte Murray over the summer.
Both Collins and Crowder have spent much of the season on the trade block, so we’ll likely hear their names pop up repeatedly leading up to the February 9 deadline. The Jazz are another team expected to be active in trade discussions, though their unexpectedly solid first half has created some uncertainty about whether they’ll be more inclined to buy or sell.
Pacific Notes: Kuminga, Wiggins, M. Brown, Lakers
The Warriors have liked what they’ve seen lately from second-year forward Jonathan Kuminga, Anthony Slater writes for The Athletic. Kuminga scored 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting in Tuesday’s win over Charlotte, but it was his defense that drew praise after the game.
“He f—ing locks up now,” teammate Draymond Green said. “I think it’s very impressive to see. Not that you never thought he was capable, but to see the maturity and buying into a role. Like, ‘Oh, that’s my role, that’s what I need to do. I’m going to go do that better than anyone.’ We’ve seen his impact over the last few weeks. He’s hawking every point guard he gets on.”
As Slater details, a steal Kuminga made against Hornets forward P.J. Washington in the fourth quarter with the game tied at 101-101 prompted head coach Steve Kerr to compare the 20-year-old to one of the Warriors’ veteran leaders.
“He looked like Andre Iguodala on that play,” Kerr said. “That’s an Andre-type play. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Andre’s been mentoring him throughout the season and last year.”
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- The Warriors got some good news and some bad news this week on forward Andrew Wiggins, who has been sidelined since December 3 due to an adductor strain. Wiggins has been cleared to return from that injury, but is battling an illness, which will keep him out at least through Wednesday’s game against Utah, tweets Slater.
- Kings head coach Mike Brown has entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols, the team announced on Tuesday (Twitter link via James Ham of The Kings Beat). Assistant coach Jordi Fernandez is coaching the team in Brown’s place, but Brown is experiencing only mild COVID-19 symptoms and hopes to be cleared to return soon, a source tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape (Twitter link).
- In the past, LeBron James‘ comments to the media about his teams’ shortcomings have often spurred his front offices into action, but his calls for help this season appears to be falling on deaf ears, according to Kyle Goon of The Southern California News Group, who explores whether any roster moves are coming for the Lakers.
Injury Updates: Finney-Smith, Green, Beal, Williamson, Payne
Mavericks forward Dorian Finney-Smith will be out for several more games. He’ll be reevaluated in two weeks, per coach Jason Kidd, Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com tweets. Finney-Smith hasn’t played since Dec. 19 due to a groin injury. Guard Josh Green, who has been out since Dec. 9 due to a sprained right elbow, will get an examination on Friday.
We have more injury-related news:
- On a night when the Wizards finally had a full, healthy roster, star Bradley Beal departed with just over four minutes remaining on Tuesday due to left hamstring soreness, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Beal has been limited to 23 games this season after missing time with thigh and right hamstring injuries.
- Pelicans forward Zion Williamson, who has missed three games due to a stint in the league’s health and safety protocols, is listed as probable to play on Wednesday against Minnesota, according to a team press release. Herbert Jones, who was also placed in protocols over the weekend, is listed as questionable.
- Suns guard Cameron Payne, who has not played since Dec. 13 due to a right foot strain, is hopeful of returning during the team’s in-progress six-game road swing, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic reports. “It’d be hard just sitting back and watching, but kind of got to fight through the discomfort,” Payne said. “Just try to get me back to 100%. Just get me back to normal. I think I’m getting close. It’s been a rough two weeks, week and a half, but it’s coming to a close. Just getting close.”
Eastern Notes: VanVleet, Strus, Vincent, Nets
Fred VanVleet has played more off the ball this season and the Raptors guard admits it hasn’t been an easy adjustment, William Lou of Sportsnet tweets. “I’m always willing to do what’s best for the team and it’s something we’ve been trying,” he said. “There’s games where I dominate the ball and we need that, but for the most part I’m in a completely different role than last year.” VanVleet is shooting a career-low 33.5% on 3-point attempts this season. He left Tuesday’s game early with lower back stiffness, Marc Spears of ESPN tweets.
We have more from the Eastern Conference:
- Max Strus made half of his 10 three-point attempts for the Heat on Monday, a sign he may be breaking out of a shooting slump, Anthony Chiang of the Miami Herald writes. It was the first time Strus made more than three 3-pointers in a game since Nov. 30. Strus, an unrestricted free agent after this season, shot 24.7% from deep in 11 games prior to Monday’s breakout.
- Guard Gabe Vincent scored 11 points in 18 minutes on Monday after missing eight consecutive Heat games with tendinosis in his right knee. “It’s hard to not be present,” he told Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “But it’s hard to see something that you can help and not being able to help. I think that applies to every aspect of life, when you feel like you can help a situation but you’re not able to. It’s difficult.” Vincent is also headed to unrestricted free agency after the season.
- Putting controversies aside and just focusing on the game has keyed the Nets’ nine-game winning streak, Nick Friedell of ESPN writes. “The most important part of today is we’re trying to win this ballgame,” coach Jacque Vaughn said. “When we step into the gym every single day it’s about basketball. How we’re going to take care of each other on the floor, cover for each other on the floor, it’s about basketball.”
Payton Pritchard Attracting Trade Interest
Numerous teams have checked on the availability of Celtics guard Payton Pritchard in the trade market, Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com reports.
Pritchard, currently sidelined by a bruised thigh, has mostly been out of the rotation this season due to Boston’s guard depth. He has appeared in 21 games this season, averaging just 10.5 minutes per night. The past two seasons, Pritchard was solidly in the rotation, appearing in 66 games during his rookie campaign and 71 regular season games and 24 postseason contests during Boston’s run to the Finals.
The acquisition of Malcolm Brogdon has left Pritchard, who averaged 6.2 points and 2.0 assists in 14.1 minutes last season, as the odd man out. Pritchard’s ability to run the offense and shoot (4o.5% from deep in his career) makes him an attractive, low-salary target.
He’s still on his rookie contract, making approximately $2.24MM this season and $4.04MM next season. He’ll be eligible for restricted free agency after next season.
He’s certainly a nice insurance policy for Boston, given his proven production. But if the front office sees a more pressing need and the right offer comes along for the No. 26 pick in the 2020 draft, the Celtics could be convinced to move him.