Phoenix Suns Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Morris, Kings, Gasol

February 15th, 2016 at 11:30pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Suns want a package that includes a younger player and a first-round pick for power forward Markieff Morris, several league executives told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. Phoenix has no intention of bringing back Morris next season but GM Ryan McDonough could wait until the summer to deal him if he doesn’t get the desired package, Wojnarowski continues. Phoenix already owns five first-rounders over the next three drafts, which motivates McDonough to get more than just a pick for Morris, Wojnarowski adds.

In other news around the league:

The Kings and Magic are under internal pressure to make the playoffs and that increases the chances of those teams making a deadline deal, David Aldridge of NBA.com tweets. Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac were also canvassing league officials during the All-Star break on possible GM candidates, Wojnarowski reported in his trade deadline update. Divac holds the title of GM but the team is looking for someone who has more experience working with the collective bargaining agreement to assist him, as Wojnarowski details.
The Knicks could make a play for the Bulls’ Pau Gasol, an unrestricted free agent this summer, even though center is not a clear position of need, Marc Berman of the New York Post opines. A source told Berman that money isn’t a primary concern for Gasol, which bodes well for the Knicks. Gasol is one of Knicks president Phil Jackson’s favorite players and he would make a perfect mentor to rookie power forward Kristaps Porzingis, Berman continues. The Knicks could attempt to trade current starter Robin Lopez to open up a spot for Gasol and might also clear cap space sooner by dealing backup big man Kyle O’Quinn, whom they’ve reportedly offered around, before the trade deadline, Berman adds.
Lakers reserve shooting guard Nick Young is hopeful of getting traded to a playoff-bound team, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News reports. The club wants to move Young, as it tried to do during last season’s trade deadline and the offseason, but has struggled to find a taker, Medina continues. Young has two years and approximately $11.1MM remaining on his contract after this season, with a player option on the final year.
There is only a slim possibility that the Warriors will make a trade before Thursday’s deadline, a source told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

And-Ones: Rubio, Anthony, Cousins

February 14th, 2016 at 9:25pm CST by Will Joseph

Ricky Rubio is “readily available,” writes Frank Isola of the New York Daily News, but Wolves GM Milt Newton earlier this week told Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities that he hadn’t fielded any offers for the point guard. Still, Newton said he would be obliged to listen if a team came calling. The Knicks are in the market for a point guard, but it’s hard to envision New York having the assets needed to acquire Rubio, Isola notes. Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press further clarifies the situation, tweeting that the Wolves are not shopping Rubio, but they won’t immediately hang up the phone if someone calls to ask.

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

Carmelo Anthony has said he is not looking to leave the Knicks and is not interested in waiving his no-trade clause, but Isola hears Anthony would strongly consider a trade to the Clippers (in the same piece). Isola adds that Anthony has wanted to play with Chris Paul for a while and speculates that a deal involving Blake Griffin would make sense for both teams.
DeMarcus Cousins has been answering to trade rumors all weekend, but the Kings are not going to move him, according to Kurt Helin of NBC Sports’ Pro Basketball Talk. There is little incentive to trade Cousins because he has a reasonable contract, owner Vivek Ranadive loves him and the Kings plan to open a new arena in downtown Sacramento next season, Helin adds. “First of all, I can’t control the trade [rumors] and I can’t control if I’m traded or not,” Cousins said. “But I do want to be in Sacramento, and I know everybody in Sacramento knows that.”
Commissioner Adam Silver hinted that keeping the relative status quo in the next collective bargaining agreement would be OK with him as he spoke Saturday in his All-Star weekend press conference, according to a transcript on NBA.com. “Did we get everything we were looking for in collective bargaining last time? No,” Silver said. “But we feel it’s a fair compromise, and we feel it’s working pretty well.”
Warriors coach and former Suns GM Steve Kerr was inspired to get into coaching because of Jeff Hornacek‘s initial success and expressed disappointment toward Hornacek’s firing, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic relays. “It’s just a jolt of NBA reality,” Kerr said. “Every coach is sort of a victim of circumstance, good or bad. So much depends on the talent that you have and the support you have and the chemistry in your organization and your locker room. Unfortunately, it’s a really, really hard thing to discover or to create. I feel very lucky to have that here because I know it doesn’t exist in most places.”

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Blazers, Suns, Celtics Eye Shabazz Muhammad

February 12th, 2016 at 11:40am CST by Chuck Myron

FRIDAY, 11:40am: The Celtics aren’t interested in dealing for Muhammad before the deadline, one source told Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe.

THURSDAY, 9:29am: The Blazers, Suns and Celtics and other teams are “kicking the tires” on Shabazz Muhammad, according to Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter link). The Clippers remain fond of the 23-year-old swingman, Wolfson adds, having first identified the team’s interest in December, though it’s unclear if the Nets and Lakers, two more teams that apparently eyed him earlier this season, still do.

Minnesota was unwilling to trade Muhammad as of December, as Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reported then, but whether the team has wavered from that stance isn’t known. The 14th overall pick from 2013 has suffered a regression this year, with his minutes down slightly and more significant declines in shooting percentage, shot attempts per game, scoring average and rebounding. He’s seen fewer minutes per game this season than fellow wing players Andrew Wiggins, Zach LaVine, Tayshaun Prince and trade candidate Kevin Martin.

Muhammad is making nearly $2.056MM in the third year of his rookie scale contract, with almost $3.047MM coming next season, the last on the deal. He’s eligible for a rookie scale extension this summer, but given his dearth of playing time, he seems unlikely to receive one.

The Suns would appear to provide the best opportunity for him to see more minutes if he’s traded to Phoenix, especially if P.J. Tucker is no longer there after next week’s trade deadline. The Clippers have been starting Luc Mbah a Moute at small forward, so perhaps an opportunity would exist there. The Celtics and Blazers seem relatively set on the wings.

Pacific Notes: Morris, Griffin, Randle

February 11th, 2016 at 6:50pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Suns will try to trade Markieff Morris before the deadline, but the team isn’t facing immediate pressure, at least in terms of Morris’ contract, to deal him away this season, observes Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. Morris, who’s under contract for three seasons after this one, hinted at a willingness to stay in Phoenix for the rest of 2015/16 in his comments after Wednesday’s game about his shoving incident with Archie Goodwin, according to Coro. “That’s my little brother and we’re going to move forward,” Morris said of the incident. “There’s no hard feelings. It was a tough loss but we’re going to regroup and get back after this break and do some things.”

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

Virtually every team in the league has checked in with the Clippers regarding the availability of power forward Blake Griffin, but Los Angeles has rebuffed all of them and has no intention on softening its stance against dealing the star, Sean Deveney of The Sporting News notes.
Lakers coach Byron Scott is pleased with how power forward Julius Randle is maturing as a player and a person, Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News writes. “He’s been fantastic,” Scott said of Randle. “He’s not going overboard as far as trying to go too fast. He’s picking his moments and he’s rebounded the hell out of the ball.”
Luke Walton is more than likely going to remain a Warriors assistant for the remainder of the season despite the young coach being linked to virtually every available coaching post, Tim Kawakami of The Bay Area News Group writes. The scribe cites Walton’s loyalty, the team’s unwillingness to tamper with its winning formula and the low probability that Walton would jump to a team that presses him to make a move in the middle of the season as reasons why he believes the coach will finish 2015/16 in Golden State.
The Suns assigned shooting guard Jordan McRae to their D-League affiliate, Coro tweets. McRae, whom Phoenix inked to a second 10-day deal Monday, is with Bakersfield so he can participate in the D-League All-Star game this weekend, Coro adds.

Latest On Markieff Morris

February 11th, 2016 at 12:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

Markieff Morris, Archie Goodwin and interim coach Earl Watson all brushed off an incident during a timeout in Phoenix’s loss Wednesday to the Warriors when Morris shoved Goodwin and teammates had to separate them, as Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic details. It’s not the first confrontation involving Morris to take place on the Suns bench this season, and while the towel he tossed in former coach Jeff Hornacek‘s direction in the midst of a December game resulted in a two-game suspension for the power forward, other teams don’t find it concerning, reports Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports.

“We have to control our emotions,” Watson said, according to Coro. “Other than that, those two are really close. The team is not split. Those two are the closest on the team. They have a bond, a unique relationship. As we’ve seen, unique relationships can lead to something else throughout the league.”

Executives acknowledge that emotions run high and boil over at times during the heat of competition and most say the extra scrutiny surrounding Morris this year magnified the negative public perception of the towel toss, according to Marks. Nevertheless, if such outbursts become common, they could still hurt his trade value, Marks concedes. See more on one of the season’s most significant trade candidates:

Teams with interest in trading for Morris have wondered if the breakdown in communication between the Suns, Morris and his brother Marcus Morris this summer is a harbinger of similar problems they’d have if they traded for Markieff, as Marks details in the same piece. Those teams have looked into the relationship between Marcus and the Pistons and found no issues, Marks adds.
Markieff Morris said after Wednesday’s game that he didn’t regret having shoved Goodwin, notes Paula Boivin of The Arizona Republic. The way that Morris and the rest of the team have responded to the incident is baffling, Boivin contends, believing that Morris’ behavior puts the team in a tough position.
Morris praised Watson for sticking with him, as Boivin relays in the same column, and the coach has been complimentary of Morris since taking over for Hornacek, as his comments before Wednesday game illustrate. “Everybody thought Markieff would be the toughest challenge,” Watson said, according to Coro (Twitter link). “He’s been the easiest challenge.”

Lakers, Suns, Rockets, Kings Eye Luke Walton

February 11th, 2016 at 10:27am CST by Chuck Myron

The Lakers, Suns, Rockets and Kings are likely to express interest in Warriors assistant coach Luke Walton for their head coaching jobs in the offseason, sources tell Marc Berman of The New York Post. Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post reported earlier this week that the Lakers and Suns would target him (Twitter link). They join the Knicks, who reportedly view Walton as a top candidate, even though New York appears a long shot for him, and the Nets, who apparently have the 35-year-old on their radar, at least, as they seek to fill their GM vacancy first.

Remaining with the Warriors for next season is not out of the realm of possibility for Walton, barring the emergence of an enticing offer, a source close to the coach suggested to Berman. That jibes with Walton’s recent remark that he’s in no rush to make a change and would “love to be back again next season” with Golden State. Walton is apparently set on remaining with the team at least through this season, which is liable to stretch well into June for the 48-4 Warriors.

Walton had talks with the Knicks about becoming an assistant coach in 2014, but the team wasn’t ready to make an offer when Warriors coach Steve Kerr pursued him for his staff at Golden State, as Berman details. Walton joined the Warriors that summer for his first job on an NBA bench and only his second season as a coach on any level following a 10-year NBA playing career. He ascended to interim head coach before this season when Kerr took a leave of absence to recover from two back surgeries, and Walton led the team to a sterling 39-4 record before Kerr returned last month.

The Suns, Rockets and Knicks all have interim head coaches, while Byron Scott and George Karl remain in their formal capacities as head coaches of the Lakers and Kings, respectively. However, Scott isn’t assured of lasting past the season and the Kings nearly fired Karl this week.

Which job makes the most sense for Walton? Leave a comment to tell us.

Wizards Ask About Anderson, Tucker, Booker

February 10th, 2016 at 1:59pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Wizards have inquired about Ryan Anderson, P.J. Tucker and Trevor Booker as they search for help at power forward, according to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders, who writes in his NBA AM piece. Washington hasn’t gained much traction in talks thus far, Kyler cautions, having heard that the team believes the serious talk will take place during the All-Star break. The Wizards have been disappointing this season, sitting one game in the loss column behind the eighth-place Pistons in the Eastern Conference, but they’re unlikely to break up their core, Kyler writes.

Multiple reports within the last month have indicated that the Pelicans are more willing to trade other players than they are with Anderson, and coach Alvin Gentry has said he’s unlikely to end up in a deal, even though NBA executives reportedly believed, at least as of January, that if the Pelicans were to make a trade this season, Anderson would be in it. Stretch fours appeal to Washington, according to Kyler, and Anderson, a career 38% 3-point shooter, fits that bill. New Orleans reportedly made Anderson available earlier this season, but the team wasn’t anxious to trade him, as Kyler reported, later noting that the Rockets “kicked the tires” on him. New Orleans apparently had talks with the Suns about Markieff Morris that involved Anderson. Reports conflict on whether New Orleans turned down an offer from the Kings of Rudy Gay for Anderson

Tucker has consistently been attracting interest on the trade market, with the Raptors among those eyeing him, multiple reports have said. The Suns were reportedly holding off on trade discussions involving him as of last month, waiting to gauge their postseason hopes, but Phoenix has fallen 12 games behind the eighth-place Rockets. He’d be an undersized option at the four, since he’s 6’6″ and primarily plays small forward, but Washington has used 6’7″ Jared Dudley extensively at power forward this season. Tucker, unlike Anderson and Booker, has one more year left on his contract, but it’s only partially guaranteed for $1.5MM, so it wouldn’t take a significant chunk out of Washington’s cap flexibility for the summer ahead.

Rumors about Booker have been sparse, even though he’s on an expiring contract with the Jazz that gives him $4.775MM this season. Washington’s interest in Booker is somewhat curious, even though he spent his first four NBA seasons there, since the Wizards elected not to tender a qualifying offer to him when he was eligible for restricted free agency in 2014.

What should the Wizards do at the deadline? Leave a comment to share your ideas.

Pacific Notes: Karl, Griffin, Cousins, Watson

February 9th, 2016 at 4:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

The fast pace of the Kings under George Karl has perturbed players and management, and concerns exist over the effect of the two-time cancer survivor’s health on his ability to coach, according to Sam Amick of USA Today. It’s hard for players to hear Karl, who endured neck and throat cancer while with the Nuggets, over the din of NBA arenas, Amick writes. Owner Vivek Ranadive reportedly hired Karl in part to run an up-tempo offense, so it’s odd to see pace become an issue. Still, the Kings have apparently committed to keeping Karl, in spite of reports that they planned to fire him.

“If they let George do his job and coach this team like he’s done in the past, they will get what they are both always seeking, respectability as a team and organization,” Karl’s agent, Warren Legarie, said in a statement to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

See more on the always-entertaining Kings amid the latest from the Pacific Division:

Blake Griffin has been suspended for four games without pay and fined him the equivalent of a fifth game check for reportedly hitting assistant equipment manager Mathias Testi, an incident that left Griffin with a broken right hand, as Dan Woike of the Orange County Register reported and the Clippers shortly thereafter confirmed (Twitter links). It’s officially a team suspension, Amick reports (Twitter link), so the Clippers won’t reap any tax savings as they would have if it were an NBA suspension. The team suspension also allows the Clippers some leeway in determining whether it’ll start before or after Griffin is fully recovered from his hand injury, as Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times points out (on Twitter), though the team has no plan to do so, Woike relays (via Twitter).
The Kings still aren’t seriously considering any DeMarcus Cousins trade before the deadline, but they’re expected to decide soon whether to use the months after the deadline to “lay the groundwork” for a later trade of the star big man, writes Sean Deveney of The Sporting News. That process could take a while, Deveney writes, pointing to Minnesota’s months-long effort to find a suitable Kevin Love deal in 2014.
Interim Suns coach Earl Watson spent only one season with the Spurs organization, as a D-League coach last year, but San Antonio’s philosophy has a clear influence on the style he’s bringing to Phoenix, notes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.

And-Ones: Jackson, Walton, Westbrook, Colangelo

February 9th, 2016 at 9:00am CST by Chuck Myron

A “strong belief” persists that Knicks team president Phil Jackson will wind up back with the Lakers organization with fiancee Jeanie Buss, and it’s a safe bet that the Zen Master’s tenure in New York won’t outlast whomever he picks as the team’s next coach, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. That leads Wojnarowski to wonder why Knicks coaching candidate Luke Walton would head to New York this summer. Walton, like Tom Thibodeau, looms as a candidate for the Lakers job, Wojnarowski writes, with Byron Scott not assured of lasting past the season, so Walton could eventually reunite with Jackson, his former coach, in L.A. Regardless, Jackson’s stubborn refusal to look outside his own sphere of influence for coaches and other employees isn’t in the best interests of the Knicks, Wojnarowski contends. See more from New York amid the latest from around the league:

Kristaps Porzingis and the allure of New York have Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook‘s attention as he thinks ahead to his free agency in 2017, Wojnarowski notes in the same piece.
Former Raptors and Suns GM Bryan Colangelo is the early favorite to land the Nets GM job, sources tell NetsDaily, which confirms that Colangelo is among several candidates interviewing with the team this week.
The Suns signed Jordan McRae to a second 10-day contract Monday, but it’s effectively a 12-day contract. That’s because all 10-day pacts are required to encompass at least three games, and Phoenix’s loss to the Thunder on Monday was one of only two games the team had left before the All-Star break when it re-signed McRae. The Suns open the second half of the season against the Rockets on March 19th, which will be the 12th day of McRae’s contract. He’ll make $37,065 instead of the standard $30,888 he’d see on a conventional 10-day deal.
The Hawks assigned Edy Tavares to the Spurs affiliate in the D-League on Monday, Atlanta announced. It’s the 10th time this season that the Hawks, who are without a D-League team of their own, have used San Antonio’s affiliate. Tavares will likely spend two games with the Austin Spurs on his latest stint, tweets Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Pacific Notes: Walton, Nash, Hill, Divac

February 8th, 2016 at 5:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

Warriors assistant Luke Walton has hired the Wasserman Media Group to represent him in negotiations, league sources tell Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Walton is reportedly a top candidate for the newly created Knicks vacancy, but the prospect of Walton ending up in New York is a long shot, tweets Monte Poole of CSNBayArea.com. See more from the defending champs amid the latest from around the Pacific Division:

Warriors part-time player development consultant Steve Nash said he wouldn’t be closed to the possibility of working for the Suns in the future, but he’s not willing to become the team’s coach for now, calling the notion of the team’s apparent interest in him for its head coaching vacancy “a moot point at this point.” The two-time MVP made his comments on J.J. Redick‘s podcast for The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (audio link, scroll to 7:45 mark).
Interim Suns coach Earl Watson told new assistant Bob Hill when Hill was Watson’s coach on the SuperSonics from 2006 to 2007 that he’d like to coach with him someday, and that longstanding desire brought Hill back into NBA coaching after a nine-year absence, as Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic details. Hill still has some bitterness toward Spurs coach/president Gregg Popovich about Popovich’s decision to remove him as head coach of the Spurs nearly 20 years ago, Coro also relays. “I guess I didn’t do good enough. I don’t know. He wanted to be the coach,” Hill said of Popovich. “And as soon as he had an opportunity to get rid of me, he did it. It’s too bad. The league’s like that sometimes. You’re going to run into people like that sometimes and that’s part of life. It was a great experience. I’m happy I had that. It hasn’t affected my coaching. I continued to coach and always will.”
Kings GM Vlade Divac is only willing to make a trade if it’s a significant upgrade for the team, in spite of a report indicating that Sacramento is actively shopping many of its players, as Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee wrote today in a chat with readers.