And-Ones: Team USA, Practice Facility, Trade Deadline, Panic Meter
With Steve Kerr not expected to return as Team USA’s head coach for the upcoming international basketball cycle that includes the 2027 FIBA World Cup and the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, USA Basketball and managing director Grant Hill will be tasked with selecting Kerr’s successor.
According to Joe Vardon of The Athletic, Hill has yet to begin the process of selecting the next U.S. head coach and is unlikely to name Kerr’s replacement anytime soon, since it would create several years of “unnecessary pressure” on that individual leading up to the 2027 and 2028 events, a source tells Vardon.
Still, it looks like there are two obvious frontrunners for the job, Vardon says, identifying Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra and Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue as the most logical candidates. Outside of their NBA résumés, which include championships, Spoelstra and Lue were the top assistants on Kerr’s staff in Paris during the 2024 Olympics. Both men indicated they’d be honored to be selected for the role, Vardon writes.
“I’d be willing to do anything for USA Basketball,” Spoelstra said. “That’s how it should be for anybody, for players and for staff members, if you’re asked. It’s such an honor and such a life experience, so you just do it. You don’t want to miss out on those experiences. And I would do any role.”
“Yeah, it sounds amazing,” Lue added. “To be the Olympic head coach in this building (the Clippers’ Intuit Dome), of course, everybody would look at that as a cool opportunity, but there’s a lot that goes into it. To be chosen to do that is an honor and a blessing, but it’s not something I’m hanging my hat on because it’s two years away and Spo was involved in USA Basketball before I even got here.”
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- There has been a clear trend over the last decade of NBA teams seeking a competitive edge by building new, state-of-the-art practice facilities, with 20 of the league’s 30 clubs opening new facilities since 2014, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic. Robbins explores the “unrelenting contest of innovation and one-upmanship” involved in the “arms race,” with teams across the league looking to create advantages in the way they look after players and recruit free agents. “I would say if the standard of the facility is high-end, the players better be too,” Magic big man Moritz Wagner said when asked if a new practice facility can help a team win games. “I do think that the players feel that. I mean, there’s no excuse, right? There’s no excuse not to work every day when you have a place like that.”
- How should the NBA’s 30 teams approach this season’s trade deadline? Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report digs into that topic, making a case for whether each club should buy, sell, or hold — or, in some cases, a combination of more than one. For instance, Pincus advocates for the Hawks, Spurs, Raptors, and Hornets to pursue “opportunistic improvement” rather than purely selling.
- Law Murray of The Athletic rates a handful of teams on the “panic meter,” explaining that he thinks the Pacers and Pelicans have more reason to panic than the Lakers because L.A. has finished in play-in territory in each of the past two seasons and shouldn’t realistically expect to be much better than they’ve been so far this fall.
Franz Wagner Out Indefinitely Due To Torn Oblique
Magic forward Franz Wagner has been diagnosed with a torn right oblique and will be sidelined indefinitely, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports that Wagner will be reevaluated in four weeks.
The Magic have confirmed the news (Twitter link). The injury occurred during Friday’s game in Philadelphia.
It’s a brutal blow for an Orlando team that has already been without one star, Paolo Banchero, for more than a month. Not only will Wagner join his fellow forward on the injured list, but he has sustained essentially the same injury — Banchero has been out since October 30 due to a torn right oblique of his own.
Wagner served as the second option on offense behind Banchero for the past couple seasons, but the Magic gave him a five-year, maximum-salary extension in July, signaling their confidence in his ability to continue developing into an All-Star caliber player. His star turn was taking place this fall as he took the reins of Orlando’s offense with Banchero sidelined.
In 20 games without Banchero available so far this season, Wagner has averaged 26.1 points, 6.3 assists, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.8 steals in 35.0 minutes per contest.
Banchero said in mid-November that he hoped to return to the court by Christmas, though he admitted that was his own goal and wouldn’t necessarily be approved by the Magic’s medical team. Even if Banchero meets that timeline, Orlando will likely have to get by for at least a couple more weeks without either of its top two scorers.
Jalen Suggs and Moritz Wagner have been the Magic’s next-best scorers behind Wagner in recent weeks and will be asked to take on additional scoring responsibilities. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Anthony Black, Wendell Carter Jr., Cole Anthony, and Goga Bitadze are among the others who figure to be leaned upon more on that side of the floor. However, it seems safe to assume the Magic, who already rank just 24th in the NBA with a 110.3 offensive rating, could have some trouble scoring in the immediate future.
After starting the season with a 3-6 record, Orlando has won 13 of its last 16 games and sits at 16-9, good for third in the Eastern Conference. That strong start should help the club stay afloat until they get Banchero and Wagner back.
Northwest Notes: Gordon, Camara, Blazers, Filipowski
Battling some right calf soreness last month, Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon attempted to play anyway and made the injury worse, suffering a calf strain that sidelined him for 10 games. According to Gordon, the initial soreness was the sort of pain he played through “all the time” earlier in his career, but the 11th-year veteran acknowledges he’s “getting older now” and may have to rethink that approach.
“I was trying to play through something I probably shouldn’t have played through,” Gordon told Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. “The whole side of my leg was bruised. I tried to play through it. My calf just took the brunt of it.”
As Durando details, Gordon has become one of the Nuggets’ most valuable players, serving not only as a crucial part of the starting lineup but as the team’s best option to back up Nikola Jokic at center. As a result, head coach Michael Malone will have to be careful not to overuse Gordon, who exceeded his minutes limit in his second game back from his calf injury on Tuesday (he played 33 minutes), then logged 34 more minutes on Thursday.
Following that heavy usage vs. Golden State and Cleveland, Gordon is back on the Nuggets’ injury report, listed as questionable to suit up on Saturday in Washington due to that same calf strain.
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- After Trail Blazers forward Toumani Camara exited Friday’s game vs. Utah early due to a right foot ailment, head coach Chauncey Billups said after the game that Camara will undergo imaging on that injured foot, per Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report (Twitter links). Camara has started all 23 of Portland’s games so far this season, averaging 9.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game while playing solid defense.
- To add insult to injury, the Trail Blazers were blown out by the lowly Jazz by a score of 141-99 in Portland on Friday, prompting Billups to tell reporters after the game, “Our spirit just wasn’t right,” according to Highkin (Substack link). As Highkin writes, starting center Deandre Ayton was benched for nearly the entire second half because Billups “didn’t like his spirit” and fans in Portland booed the home team off the court at the end of the night. “It’s tough to be booed, but sometimes you feel like you deserve it,” Blazers forward Jerami Grant said. “Losing by 40 to a team that now has five wins… We’ve got to get our s–t together.”
- The Jazz assigned rookie forward/center Kyle Filipowski to the G League on Thursday, but his stint with the Salt Lake City Stars will be brief, head coach Will Hardy told reporters, including Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link). While fellow rookie Cody Williams has been with the Stars since November 25, Filipowski will be back with the Jazz for Sunday’s game after registering a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds, five assists) in his NBAGL debut on Friday.
Pacific Notes: Lakers, Reaves, Vincent, Powell, Ellis
After opening their four-game road trip on Sunday with a win in Utah, the Lakers lost three consecutive games, including blowouts in Minnesota and Miami and an overtime heart-breaker in Atlanta on Friday. LeBron James told reporters after the latest loss that L.A.’s lack of depth is being tested, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, who notes that the Lakers’ bench was outscored 65-17 last night.
“Mismatching with lineups, we’re trying to figure out ways, obviously,” James said. “So it’s very challenging. We don’t have much room for error. … It’s big, big, big, big pieces.”
Austin Reaves, Jaxson Hayes, Christian Wood and Jarred Vanderbilt were all inactive on Friday. Reaves, the biggest absence on the road trip in terms of point production, returned to L.A. before Friday’s game to receive treatment for a pelvic bruise. He has averaged 16.7 points and 4.8 assists this season across 19 games (all starts).
“He’s like a connector for our offense, but he’s also a scorer and a play-maker,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said.
The Lakers rank in the bottom five in the league in bench points and are going to have to stick with what they have for the time being.
“There’s no cavalry,” Anthony Davis said. “No one feels sorry for us. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. Just got to continue to put our head down and grind and work. Try to get back in the win column on Sunday against Portland. … No game’s going to be easy for us, so we got to go take the win.”
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Redick switched things up on Friday by starting Gabe Vincent over D’Angelo Russell. Vincent delivered in his second start of the season by recording 12 points and five assists, The Orange County Register’s Khobi Price writes. Those 12 points were Vincent’s most in a Lakers uniform and he’s averaging 9.0 PPG with a 37.5% three-point rate in his last four games. “I just tried to compete on both ends like I always do,” Vincent said. “The ball was in my hands a little more. I tried to create where I could. I tried to find guys where I could. Tried to take care of the ball. I was trying to win. I’m about winning, so I’m pretty frustrated with the loss. But it happens.” Vincent dealt with injury issues for most of last season, but appears to be rounding into form.
- Clippers guard Norman Powell is playing like an All-Star and a Most Improved Player candidate in his 10th season, averaging 23.9 PPG on a scorching 50.7% three-point clip. He has got the Clippers firmly in the Western Conference playoff picture. Powell recently spoke to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto about his ascent, championship experience and his personal battles on and off the court. “I thought about quitting basketball a few times,” Powell said. “I don’t think people really get to hear the dark moments that you go through. I’ve talked about being at the forefront of mental health, and guys like Kevin Love and DeMar DeRozan talk about how important it is. People don’t really get to see that side of things.” I recommend checking out the interview in full here.
- After some inconsistent showings in recent games, the Kings scored a season-high 140 points on Friday. Keon Ellis didn’t play on Tuesday and only saw two minutes of action on Thursday, but was inserted back into the rotation on Friday and was a +32 with four steals in 21 minutes. Coach Mike Brown explained Ellis’ playing time fluctuation, according to The Sacramento Bee’s Chris Biderman. “Starting Malik [Monk], he’s going to command more minutes,” Brown said. “We’re trying to play Kevin [Huerter] more. We’re trying to be a little bigger with Isaac [Jones] and Jae [Crowder]. So there hasn’t been a ton of minutes. Now, I can take minutes away from one of those guys to try to get him out on the floor. But it’s just, right now, it’s a minutes thing, based on who I’m playing.“
Knicks Notes: Anunoby, Towns, Bridges, Brunson, Sims
The Knicks reached four wins in a row on Thursday, due in part to OG Anunoby‘s strong defensive performances. In those games, Anunoby is averaging 2.5 blocks while the Knicks are winning by an average margin of 18.3 points. According to the New York Post’s Peter Botte, Anunoby’s defensive clinics have inspired his teammates.
“I think plays like that unite and inspire the team. You can feel it. When a guy makes a great multiple effort, it’s inspiring to everyone,” coach Tom Thibodeau said of one sequence where Anunoby blocked consecutive shots. “That gets you going. The energy that you get from that is huge. The blocked shots, diving on the floor, coming up with a steal, and actually that’s really what got us going. He blew up a couple of dribble hand-offs, we got a couple of easy baskets, and then we got going.”
No team has scored more than 106 points on New York during its current streak. The Knicks already rank first in the NBA in offensive rating and their defensive rating has slightly climbed to 17th in the league after this stretch. They’ll continue to try to improve on that end with Anunoby playing at a high level.
“He has All-Defensive teams in his future. So we’ll make it up,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “I think we all know in this locker room the talent OG possesses. I think he’s one of the best two-way players in the NBA. Defensively, offensively, he affects the game. I’m just glad that he’s getting this moment here in the Mecca in New York to show the world the talent that we all see.”
We have more from the Knicks:
- The Knicks’ trade for Towns continues to look like a major success, as the big man is averaging career highs of 25.2 points and a league-leading 13.2 rebounds per game. According to Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst of ESPN (Insider link), the Knicks hold an internal belief that when Precious Achiuwa and Mitchell Robinson are operating at full health, the outside perception of the trade will be largely positive.
- While the Towns trade is paying early dividends, New York’s other blockbuster move to acquire Mikal Bridges is still a bit more up and down, Bontemps and Windhorst write in the same ESPN story. Bridges knocked down seven of his 12 three-point attempts for 31 points on Sunday but has shot just 30.7% from deep in the two games since then. “Fair or not, the price they paid to trade for him will follow him,” one league executive said to ESPN. Despite the fact that Bridges hasn’t been playing at a star level, Windhorst writes that acquiring him likely helped convince Jalen Brunson to sign a team-friendly extension and that Bridges should provide big value down the line.
- After suffering a hard fall in Thursday’s game, Brunson is listed as questionable for New York’s Saturday outing against Detroit, according to Botte. Thibodeau said Brunson could have gone back in the game on Thursday, but there was no reason to risk it with the Knicks up big.
- Reserve big man Jericho Sims has appeared in all 22 of New York’s games this season, averaging 1.9 points and 4.0 rebounds. But in Achiuwa’s season debut, he played just three minutes. With that same Botte article, Thibodeau explained his decision to limit Sims’ minutes. “I didn’t like the energy of the group, so we just started searching for something that could get us going. He’s got to make sure that you’re getting things done out there,” Thibodeau said.
Warriors’ Kuminga Starts Over Green; Wiggins Exits With Injury
As we relayed on Friday, the Warriors continue to seek, whether internally or externally, another star player to pair with Stephen Curry. Golden State wants to give Jonathan Kuminga a chance to show whether he can become that star, so with Curry and Draymond Green returning from injury in Friday’s game, the team moved Green to the bench with Kuminga starting at power forward.
According to The Athletic’s Anthony Slater (Twitter link), the Warriors would like to keep Kuminga in the starting lineup and Green on the bench in the near future. Head coach Steve Kerr said the goal is to maximize Kuminga and not wear down the 34-year-old Green.
For his part, Green expressed support for the move. The four-time All-Star said he isn’t sure how long this particular lineup change will last, but that he wants to fully uplift Kuminga if the franchise thinks he’s a star-caliber player and that this is the best way to maximize his talents moving forward, ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk writes.
“I don’t necessarily look at it as like this demotion,” Green said. “I’m a starter in the NBA. I know that. But if it’s something to try to help this team win, I’m always going to be for it. I hate losing. I care about this organization, and I know a lot of people in this organization, including myself, think he’s next. And so if he’s next, at some point we got to see it.”
When former Warriors forward David Lee got injured during the 2014/15 season, Green took over for him as a starter, taking off and eventually helping Golden State claim a title that year. Green said he’s not interested in acting as a roadblock for Kuminga’s potential success in the league.
“I am a product of my vet being willing to take a backseat for me,” Green said. “So you got to give back what came to you. That’s what this is about.”
The calculus for what exactly Golden State’s rotation looks like is somewhat in question after starter Andrew Wiggins and reserve Moses Moody both exited the game with injuries. Wiggins limped to the locker room early in the third quarter before eventually being ruled out with an ankle injury. Moody is dealing with knee soreness. Regardless of how the starting unit looks until the team is healthier, the plan is for Green to close out halves at center.
One game after recording a season-high 33 points against Houston, Kuminga scored just 13 on Friday against Minnesota, though he was the team’s second-highest scorer behind Curry, with the Warriors getting to just 90 points on the night.
Kuminga is averaging 14.8 points and 4.2 rebounds per game this year while shooting 44.8% from the field and 31.1% from three. Those numbers are down from last season, but he’s averaging 19.2 PPG in his last five games, four of which were starts.
“For us to be good, you saw flashes against Houston, we need him to be his best version,” Curry said, per Youngmisuk.
Southeast Notes: Harris, Isaac, M. Wagner, Miller, Jovic
Magic wing Gary Harris, a regular part of the team’s rotation when healthy, missed a sixth consecutive game on Friday vs. Philadelphia due to a left hamstring strain. According to Jason Beede of The Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link), head coach Jamahl Mosley said that Harris is making progress and is “responding to treatment pretty well,” but it’s unclear when he’ll be ready to return.
The Magic were down another key reserve on Friday, with Jonathan Isaac ruled out due to a sore right hamstring after being added to the injury report just a few hours before tip-off. Mosley said following the Magic’s loss that Isaac will be evaluated further on Saturday, but suggested the issue isn’t a serious one, adding, “I think he’s fine” (Twitter link via Beede).
Let’s round up a few more notes from around the Southeast…
- Philip Rossman-Reich of Orlando Magic Daily makes the case that reserve Magic center Moritz Wagner should be considered a serious candidate in the Sixth Man of the Year race. Wagner is averaging 12.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in 25 outings and Rossman-Reich contends that the big man’s Orlando teammates feed off his energy and physical play.
- Decimated by injuries this fall, the Hornets have lost seven games in a row to fall to 6-16, but the play of second-year forward Brandon Miller has been a bright spot, writes Roderick Boone of The Charlotte Observer. After finishing third in Rookie of the Year voting last season, Miller has increased his points (21.7), rebounds (5.2), assists (3.5), and steals (1.3) per game so far in 2024/25. “He’s a guy that I’m just really happy for,” head coach Charles Lee said. “He’s had to shoulder a bigger responsibility with a lot of the injuries going on right now. You can see that teams are throwing multiple high-level defenders at him. They are bringing an extra level of physicality, they are showing different coverages. They’re switching him sometimes, they’re blitzing him sometimes. And I also think outside of his play is his overall leadership and demeanor is just improving game by game, and he’s just maturing in such a great way.”
- After opening this season as the Heat‘s starting power forward, Nikola Jovic hasn’t played in any of the team’s past six games despite being available for four of them. Jovic admitted that it’s “frustrating” to see his playing time dry up, but said he’s determined to regain the trust of the Heat’s coaching staff, per Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. “I know I’m good enough. I know I’m a good player,” Jovic said. “I don’t think it’s that. It’s the style of basketball play, the things that coach (Erik Spoelstra) wants from certain lineups, it’s just something that, I guess, I’m not fitting right now. That’s why I got to work on those things and get back. I’m really not questioning how good I am now.”
How Injuries To Players On Non-Guaranteed Contracts Have Impacted Teams’ Caps
In most cases, an NBA team has the ability to waive a player on a non-guaranteed contract at any time before the league-wide salary guarantee date on January 7 to avoid being on the hook for the remainder of that player’s salary.
However, that equation changes if the player is injured at the time he’s placed on waivers. In that case, one of two rules applies:
- If the player’s contract includes Exhibit 9 language, the team incurs a cap hit of $15K when the injured player is waived.
- If the player’s contract does not include Exhibit 9 language and he’s waived on or before January 7, the team continues to pay the player until he has fully recovered from the injury or for the rest of the season, whichever comes first.
Cases that fall into the first category often fly under the radar unless the injury is serious or the player is a well-known veteran, since $15K isn’t enough to make a noticeable dent in a team’s overall salary. However, there were a couple notable instances this fall of players on Exhibit 9 contracts suffering injuries and counting against their respective teams’ caps for $15K.
One was Knicks guard Landry Shamet, who appeared on track to make New York’s opening night roster before he dislocated his shoulder in the preseason. The Knicks waived Shamet and took on a $15K cap hit in the process, which isn’t entirely insignificant for a team currently operating just $581K below its second-apron hard cap. That extra $15K cap charge won’t majorly alter the Knicks’ plans, but it’ll force the team to wait a couple extra days to fit a 15th man under its hard cap later in the season.
Lakers camp invitee Jordan Goodwin also sustained an injury during the preseason, resulting in a $15K cap hit. Los Angeles had been operating just $45K below the second apron, so accounting for Goodwin’s $15K cap charge moved the team to within $30K of the second apron. Again, that shouldn’t really affect the way the Lakers handle business on the trade market or in free agency during the season, but even that slight difference is notable for a team operating with such a razor-thin margin below the restrictive second apron.
Spurs camp invitee Nathan Mensah is the other player who was injured in camp and left his team with a $15K cap charge. But San Antonio is operating way below the luxury tax line and will barely notice that extra $15K.
Exhibit 9 contracts are only effect during the summer and preseason. Once the regular season begins, there are no players on contracts with Exhibit 9 language — a player like Shamet, if he had made the Knicks’ regular season roster, would have had his Exhibit 9 contract turned into a standard one-year non-guaranteed deal.
That means the second rule outlined above applies to any player on a non-guaranteed contract who suffers an injury between opening night and January 7. Pacers center James Wiseman is the most noteworthy example so far in 2024/25.
Wiseman remains on Indiana’s roster for now and his contract is still non-guaranteed, but even if the club waives him today, his full $2,237,691 cap figure will remain on the Pacers’ cap for the rest of ’24/25, since his torn Achilles tendon is expected to sideline him for the rest of the season. Indiana has to continue paying Wiseman until he recovers from his injury or until the end of the season, so waiving him will create no cap relief.
While the Pacers aren’t right up against a hard cap or an apron threshold like the Knicks and Lakers are, the $2.2MM+ cap charge for Wiseman is far more significant than a $15K hit for an Exhibit 9 player, and it could have a real impact on what Indiana can do on the trade market. Currently, the team is hovering just $500K below the luxury tax line.
The Pacers will want to avoid becoming a taxpayer this season, so their ability to take on an extra salary in a trade is now noticeably more limited than it would be if they could cut Wiseman and remove more than two-thirds of his cap hit from their books.
Southwest Notes: Thompson, Mavs, Smart, Wembanyama
Klay Thompson is averaging just 12.6 points per game with career-worst shooting percentages of 38.1% from the field and 36.8% from beyond the arc through his first 19 games with the Mavericks. As ESPN’s Brian Windhorst writes in an Insider-only story, Thompson has started every game he has played so far for Dallas, but hasn’t always been part of the team’s closing lineup.
“Klay has been an awkward fit so far,” one Eastern Conference executive told ESPN. “Derrick Jones shot the ball better and played better D for them last year.”
ESPN’s Tim Bontemps points out in the same story that the Mavericks are running into a similar issue Golden State did last season — since Thompson has lost a step following ACL and Achilles injuries, playing him alongside two offense-first guards (Stephen Curry and Brandin Podziemski last year; Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving this year) compromises his team’s defense.
“He’s the exact same player he was with the Warriors,” one scout told Bontemps. “A quality spot-up shooter who can get hot and make shots still and who can occasionally guard.”
While Thompson certainly hasn’t come flying out of the gates this season, the Mavericks have been better with him on the court (+9.8 net rating) than off it (+4.5). And at least one scout believes it’s too early to be concerned about the veteran sharpshooter’s production.
“Klay has been fine,” that scout told ESPN. “His impact will be determined in the postseason, and if he has a few big games, then no one will remember what he shot from three in November.”
We have more from around the Southwest:
- Asked about nearing the end of a grueling 28-day stretch in which the Mavericks have had 15 games on their schedule – including 12 on the road – and have had to repeatedly traverse several time zones, head coach Jason Kidd acknowledged it hasn’t been easy, per Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. “We’ve gone as far as you can go west, and now we’re going as far as we can go east,” Kidd said. “We’re not going to complain about it. It is what it is, but it’s not fair if you want players to play. And so when guys sit out, they (the NBA) can’t complain about guys sitting out when you have a schedule like this.” The Mavs have handled the travel- and schedule-related challenges admirably, having gone 10-4 entering the final contest of that 15-game run on Saturday in Toronto.
- Grizzlies guard Marcus Smart will be looking to get a rare win against his old team in Boston on Saturday. The Celtics have beaten Memphis in 16 of their last 17 meetings dating back to 2016, according to Damichael Cole of The Memphis Commercial Appeal. “You want him to get that win and get that feeling of beating the team that traded him or whatever,” Grizzlies guard Scotty Pippen Jr. said. “At the end of the day, we want to have Marcus’ back and go up there and get the win.”
- Victor Wembanyama tested his sore lower back in warmups on Friday before being ruled out of the Spurs‘ game vs. Sacramento, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (subscription required). Head coach Mitch Johnson said “the hope” is that Wembanyama will be good to go on Sunday against New Orleans after missing two games this week. Tre Jones (left shoulder sprain) is missing a third consecutive contest for the Spurs on Friday, while Devin Vassell (right foot injury management) is sitting the second end of a back-to-back, but should be available Sunday.
- In case you missed it, we passed along a handful of Pelicans-related notes and rumors earlier this evening.
Pelicans Rumors: Ingram, Tax, Green, Missi, Health
Confirming a Michael Scotto report from earlier in the week, Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link) says Brandon Ingram spent the offseason seeking a maximum-salary contract extension (which could’ve been worth as much as $208MM over four seasons), while the Pelicans would have been comfortable with a deal more in the vicinity of $40MM per year.
Fischer also provides some details on the trade opportunities involving Ingram that the Pelicans explored over the summer, noting that the Kings initially had the forward on their radar before landing DeMar DeRozan and that the Cavaliers weren’t interested in a deal centered around Ingram and Jarrett Allen. While there were some talks with the Jazz, Fischer classifies those discussions as “preliminary,” suggesting Utah’s pursuit of Mikal Bridges got much further down the road.
A return to the Lakers has been mentioned by scouts as a possibility for Ingram, but Fischer says he’s been given no indication Los Angeles is seeking a reunion with their former No. 2 overall pick. The Lakers, according to Fischer, are more focused on adding more frontcourt depth and perimeter defense to their roster.
Given that there doesn’t appear – at this point, at least – to be a team eager to do a long-term, maximum-salary contract for Ingram, league sources expect the forward and his new reps at Klutch Sports to be open to lucrative shorter-term deals, Fischer writes, pointing to Fred VanVleet‘s three-year deal with Houston as an example. That contract is worth the max but features a third-year team option.
It’s still possible the Pelicans will be the team to work out a new agreement with Ingram, but there’s a ceiling on what they’re willing to pay him, Fischer adds.
Here’s more on the Pelicans:
- Executives around the NBA talk about the Pelicans making a move to get out of luxury tax territory as if it’s an inevitability, per Fischer. The team is currently operating about $1.4MM above the tax line, so it might be as simple as shedding a minimum-salary contract at the deadline, though a deal involving Ingram could also potentially get New Orleans out of the tax.
- Fischer doesn’t expect New Orleans to make a head coaching change anytime soon, despite some speculation around the NBA about Willie Green‘s job security. “Ownership is loyal to their people,” a New Orleans figure tells Fischer.
- People within the Pelicans organization have raved about how quickly rookie center Yves Missi is learning and progressing, according to Fischer, who compares it to the way that people in Dallas were talking about Dereck Lively last season. Nonetheless, Fischer has heard New Orleans remains in the market for frontcourt depth.
- Although Zion Williamson, Jose Alvarado, and Jordan Hawkins remain on the injured list, the Pelicans were as healthy as they’ve been since opening night on Thursday, with Ingram, Dejounte Murray, CJ McCollum, Herbert Jones, and Trey Murphy all active together for the first time. The result – a hard-fought 126-124 win over Phoenix – was an encouraging one, as William Guillory of The Athletic writes. The Pelicans are still just 5-18, but Thursday’s game provided a glimpse of what the team thought it could be, with the first-time starting lineup of Ingram, Murray, McCollum, Jones, and Missi outscoring the Suns by 14 points in 11 minutes of action.