Austin Rivers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Notes: Suns, Young, Lakers, Clippers

July 4th, 2016 at 8:16am CST by Luke Adams

The Suns made a modest splash in the free agent pool earlier this week, agreeing to terms on a three-year, $30MM contract with veteran sharpshooter Jared Dudley. However, that deal with Dudley may be both the beginning and end of Phoenix’s summer spending spree, writes Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. As Coro explains, the Suns are focused on developing a young core of players, rather than courting big-name free agents. The team still may explore the market for a wing player with some size, and could re-sign Ronnie Price, but there will likely be no more major expenditures.

Here’s more from around the Pacific division:

While Nick Young still has two years remaining on his contract with the Lakers, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he’s traded, or even waived, before training camp gets underway, says Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times.
Hours before word broke that Jamal Crawford had reached a deal to re-sign with the Clippers, a report indicated that the veteran guard received a “significant” offer from the Sixers. However, a league source denied to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer that the 76ers made such an offer, prompting Pompey to wonder if Crawford’s camp used Philadelphia for leverage in an effort to get the Clippers to improve their offer.
Austin Rivers, another Clippers guard who struck a deal with the team this weekend, described the negotiating process as “weird” and “stressful,” as Nick Friedell of ESPN.com details. Rivers went through the rare experience of negotiating a deal with his father, Clippers president of basketball operations Doc Rivers. The younger Rivers also acknowledged that if Kevin Durant had wanted to join the Clippers, Rivers would be heading elsewhere at this point.

Latest On Kevin Durant

July 3rd, 2016 at 10:05pm CST by Arthur Hill

9:59pm: The Heat are still alive in the race for Durant, according to a tweet from InsideHoops.com. A source says the theory that Durant is deciding between the Thunder and Warriors is untrue.

8:43pm: Durant was impressed by the Celtics’ presentation on Saturday and is still “seriously considering” signing with Boston, writes A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.

7:55pm: Durant is not expected to make an announcement before Monday, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today. The final decision will come down to the Thunder and Warriors, according to Royce Young of ESPN.com (Twitter link). A source close to the Warriors told Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated that Golden State pitched “culture, dynasty, style of play” to Durant, but the source wouldn’t be surprised if he stays in Oklahoma City (Twitter link).

3:25pm: Durant spoke over the phone with Warriors executive Jerry West yesterday, Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News tweets. A source told Kawakami that Durant likes the Warriors, but is unsure about leaving the Thunder (Twitter link). Nevertheless, Durant is strongly considering the Warriors and his decision will be released on the Players’ Tribune, Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders tweets.

9:05am: Kevin Durant plans to make a decision tonight or Monday, but that’s the only certainty as he prepares to meet his fifth and final suitor, writes Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. Heat representatives will get the last chance to woo Durant this afternoon, following the Celtics and Spurs, who met with him Saturday, and the Warriors and Clippers, who had meetings Friday. The Thunder have requested a final session with Durant, but he and his representatives have not decided whether to grant that.

Officials from the four teams that have talked with Durant so far haven’t been able to determine whether he is leaning toward any of them, Broussard reports. He speculates that the Clippers may have taken themselves out of the running Saturday night by using a big chunk of their cap space on the three-year, $35MM deal they gave to Austin Rivers.

The Celtics may have improved their bargaining position with Saturday’s commitment by Al Horford, according to Broussard. Durant’s agent, Rich Kleiman, had been trying to convince Horford to join Durant in Oklahoma City, and there may be incentive now to team them up in Boston. However, a source told Broussard that while the Horford addition may enter into Durant’s decision, it won’t be a major factor.

Miami will send owner Micky Arison, chief exective officer Nick Arison, team president Pat Riley, coach Erik Spoelstra, GM Andy Elisburg and executive Alonzo Mourning into today’s session with Durant, according to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald. Meeting Durant so close to his deadline puts the Heat in a difficult position, tweets Ira Winderman of The Sun-Sentinel, who says Riley’s main goal may be to dissuade Durant from choosing the Celtics.

Jackson says the Heat consider themselves an underdog for Durant, but they have several strategies to take on his $26.5MM first-year salary if he does choose Miami. The easiest would be to trade Goran Dragic and Josh McRoberts without taking salary back, start Hassan Whiteside‘s contract at $20MM rather than $22MM and try to convince Dwyane Wade to accept the approximately $16MM still left.

Durant reportedly flew to Boston on Friday to visit the city, then made a return flight with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, according to a report from CSNNE. The Celtics were happy with the active role that Brady played in the Durant presentation, writes Rob Bradford of WEEI. Brady joined the Celtics’ contingent along with co-owner Steve Pagliuca, president Danny Ainge and players Marcus Smart and Kelly Olynyk.

FA Rumors: DeRozan, Crawford, Clippers, Dudley

July 1st, 2016 at 12:47am CST by Luke Adams

Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News has updates on a pair of free agent shooting guards, reporting (via Twitter) that the Sixers and Lakers have inquired tonight on DeMar DeRozan, who is meeting with the Raptors in Los Angeles. Toronto remains the strong favorite to re-sign DeRozan. Wolfson also tweets that Jamal Crawford has received calls tonight from the Sixers, Knicks, Clippers, Magic, and Heat.

Here’s more from across the NBA:

In addition to reaching out to Crawford tonight, the Clippers also met with Austin Rivers in Orlando and Jeff Green in Miami, doing due diligence on their pending free agents, tweets Dan Woike of The Orange County Register. After meeting with the Clips, Rivers is expected to talk to the Knicks and possibly the Trail Blazers on Friday, per Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter link).
The Nets, Jazz, and Suns are among the teams in pursuit of Jared Dudley, with the Wizards also in the hunt to bring back the veteran sharpshooter, tweets ESPN’s Marc Stein. Utah had a meeting with Dudley tonight, according to Tony Jones of The Salt Lake Tribune (Twitter link).
League sources continue to tell Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link) that the Kings may be preparing a “significant” offer for restricted free agent Dion Waiters. The Thunder would have the opportunity to match an offer sheet, but may not be aggressive in trying to retain Waiters now that they have Victor Oladipo.
The Thunder were indeed among the teams to reach out to Al Horford tonight, per Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com. A Thursday report indicated that Oklahoma City has its eye on Horford as part of its pitch to keep Kevin Durant.
Speaking of Durant, during The Vertical’s free agency show tonight, Wojnarowski said that Jay-Z and Roc Nation tried to push Durant to take a free agent meeting with the Nets, but KD dismissed that idea (Twitter link via Anthony Puccio of NetsDaily).

Free Agency Rumors: Knicks, Bazemore, Rivers

June 29th, 2016 at 1:41pm CST by Luke Adams

New Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek views shooting guard and center as two spots the team needs to address in free agency, but suggested today that center may be the top priority of the two, as Ian Begley of ESPN.com outlines.

One possible free agent target at shooting guard for the Knicks is Kent Bazemore — New York has “heavy interest” in the Atlanta wing, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. However, Berman cautions that the Knicks may not have the resources to aggressively pursue Bazemore, since he figures to be seeking $16MM+ per year, and New York will have to address multiple positions in free agency. Per Berman’s source, Bazemore isn’t ruling out suitors like the Knicks and Pelicans, but his preference is to re-sign with the Hawks, if possible.

Let’s check in on a few other free agent updates from around the NBA…

Austin Rivers intends to speak to the Clippers and a few other teams when free agency opens late on Thursday night, says Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter links). According to Turner, Rivers may be seeking an annual salary in the neighborhood of $8MM on his next deal.
Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer confirms that the Sixers have interest in Dion Waiters, as a Tuesday report suggested, but the team also has some potential concerns about bringing the Philadelphia native home, as Pompey details.
As we heard late last night, the Celtics are one of the teams to schedule a meeting with Dwight Howard early in the free agent recruiting period. However, Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe (Twitter link) hears that Boston isn’t expected to aggressively pursue Howard — the team is doing its homework, and could make an effort to land the veteran center if the price is right.
Jason Smith will be among the free agent big men to receive interest from the Timberwolves this offseason, according to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News, who tweets that Smith will be more of a “fallback-type” option for Minnesota.

Austin Rivers To Opt Out Of Deal

June 1st, 2016 at 5:01pm CST by Eddie Scarito

In a move that was widely expected, Clippers guard Austin Rivers has elected not to exercise his player option for the 2016/17 campaign and he will hit the open market as an unrestricted free agent this offseason, Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated reports (on Twitter). The combo guard was set to earn $3,344,106 next season, but with the cap set to increase significantly, Rivers obviously believes he can improve upon that figure.

The 23-year-old made 67 appearances for Los Angeles this past season, averaging 8.9 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 21.9 minutes per outing to accompany a shooting line of .438/.335/.681. Rivers, the No. 10 overall pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, has career averages of 7.4 points, 1.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists through 273 contests.

Team president and coach, Doc Rivers, who is Austin’s father, has said that he wants to re-sign as many of the Clippers’ free agents as possible, which ostensibly includes the younger Rivers. Los Angeles doesn’t have much in the way of cap flexibility this summer, having nearly $77MM in salary already on the books against a projected cap in the range of $92MM-$95MM for 2016/17. Austin is represented by ASM Sports, whom he hired last July. He was previously represented by Relativity Sports, who negotiated Rivers’ two-year deal for nearly $6.455MM last July.

Pacific Notes: Messina, Rivers, Walton

May 3rd, 2016 at 11:30am CST by Chuck Myron

Spurs assistant coach Ettore Messina declined comment Monday on a report that the Kings plan to speak with him this week about their head coaching vacancy, other than to make it clear that he’s content in San Antonio, as Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News relays. Sacramento has no shortage of other candidates for its vacancy, but Kings GM Vlade Divac is said to be especially fond of Messina. “There is nothing more I can tell you other than that I am very, very happy [with the Spurs],” Messina said.

See more from around the Pacific Division:

Austin Rivers has a strong draw to the Clippers as he approaches free agency this summer, since his dad is Doc Rivers, the coach and president of basketball operations, but he also feels a kinship with Jamal Crawford, as Rowan Kavner of Clippers.com details. Crawford is likewise heading into free agency but has said he’d like to re-sign with the Clippers. “He’s the best teammate I’ve ever had, man,” Austin Rivers said of Crawford. “A lot of people doubted me when I came to L.A. a year ago. People thought I was just getting a chance because of my father. Jamal believed in me, man.”
The performance Austin Rivers put forth for the Clippers in Friday’s Game 6 despite a gruesome eye injury was a strong final impression that stands to increase his free agent value, contends Robert Morales of the Long Beach Press-Telegram.
Luke Walton‘s track record is short, but he gives the Lakers hope, and it won’t take much for him to top the performance of Byron Scott, opines Baxter Holmes of ESPNLosAngeles.com, who calls Scott one of the worst coaches in recent memory.

Clippers Rumors: Griffin, Paul, Jordan, Crawford

May 2nd, 2016 at 2:33pm CST by Chuck Myron

Doc Rivers hinted before the season that he would consider breaking up the team’s core if it fell short in the playoffs again, and trade speculation has surrounded Griffin for much of the year, but Rivers seems to maintain belief in what Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan can do, writes Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com. The coach/executive said today that he doesn’t think the team’s window for title contention is closed, Markazi tweets.

“I like our team,” Rivers said after Friday’s season-ending loss to Portland. “Our bench was fantastic this year. The problem is we have a lot of free agents on our team and I think a lot of them are going to be attractive, and so we have to fight to keep our own first and then try to build from that point. We’re going to have a difficult time. It’s going to be tough.”

See more on the Clippers:

Rivers can’t envision any player in the league picking up his player option for next season, given the sharp escalation of the salary cap that’s poised to create a player-friendly market this summer, notes Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). Rivers confirmed that means he expects Cole Aldrich, Wesley Johnson and son Austin Rivers to opt out from the Clippers this summer, and the coach/executive also believes Paul and Griffin will opt out in the summer of 2017, Bolch relays (Twitter links).
Doc Rivers said today that he wants to re-sign as many of the team’s free soon-to-be free agents as possible this summer, according to Bolch (Twitter links). “They all want to come back, but they’ve all played well and so they’ve all made it more difficult,” Rivers said. Jeff Green, Jamal Crawford, Luc Mbah a Moute, Pablo Prigioni and Jeff Ayres are the Clippers on expiring contracts, and presumably the same sentiment applies to the trio with player options.
Crawford said after Friday’s game that he’d like to re-sign with the Clippers, tweets Jen Beyrle of The Oregonian. The 36-year-old Crawford and J.J. Redick, who turns 32 next month, both said on Redick’s podcast for The Vertical that they’d like to play five more years, and Redick would like to sign a four-year deal when his existing contract expires in the summer of 2017, as Markazi relays via Twitter.
Paul Pierce has one more year left in him, Rivers believes, according to Bolch (Twitter link). Pierce, 38, is signed through the 2017/18 season but is 50-50 on whether to retire this summer.
The creation of a Clippers D-League affiliate will be a matter of discussion this summer, Rivers said, cautioning that it remains uncertain whether a team will be in place in time for next season, tweets Rowan Kavner of Clippers.com. The Clips are reportedly exploring the idea of starting a D-League team in Bakersfield, California.

L.A. Rumors: Bryant, Paul, Griffin, Rivers

February 28th, 2016 at 7:50pm CST by Arthur Hill

Coach Byron Scott’s new motion offense is the latest sign that the Lakers are ready to move past the Kobe Bryant era, writes Bill Oram of The Orange County Register. Scott drilled the team this week on the new philosophy, which maximizes the talents of guards D’Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson and represents a departure from the isolation game that Bryant favors. Bryant announced months ago that he will retire after this season, opening up $25MM in cap room, and the Lakers appear ready to turn the team over to their younger players. “It’s something that I think will help us in the long run,” Scott said. “I was going to wait until next year to do it, but then I said, ‘Why wait?’” However, Scott may not be around next season, as the front office is reportedly divided over whether to let him keep his job past April.

There’s more news from Los Angeles:

The Lakers still haven’t recovered from the blocked trade for Chris Paul in 2011, contends Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times. The three-team deal with New Orleans and Houston would have seen L.A. ship out Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom. Then-commissioner David Stern stopped it, citing “basketball reasons,” as the league was running the New Orleans franchise due to the financial distress of its former owner.
Bryant said he feels like he needs to play every game to satisfy fans who paid to see his retirement tour, according to Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News. “I always feel terrible when I can’t get out there and play,” he said. “I feel disappointment for the fans when I can’t. If I feel like I can try and give it a go, I think the fans deserve that effort from me.”
Clippers star Blake Griffin has been shooting for about a week, but his return still seems far off, tweets Dan Woike of The Orange County Register. Coach Doc Rivers confirmed Griffin’s activity, but didn’t suggest a date when he might play again. Griffin, who will have a four-game suspension to serve once he returns from his broken hand, hasn’t played since December 25th.
Austin Rivers, who was expected to be out of action four to six weeks after breaking his left hand February 5th, hopes to be ready for Wednesday’s game, Woike tweets.

Pacific Notes: Durant, Green, Rivers

February 21st, 2016 at 11:32am CST by ChrisCrouse

The Lakers may not be a real contender to sign Kevin Durant should he decide to leave Oklahoma City in free agency due to the lack of talent on their roster, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports in a session on Fox Sports Radio (h/t to Adrian Hasenmayer of Fox Sports). Wojnarowski adds that the Warriors have Durant’s attention and they remain a threat to steal him away from the Thunder, supplementing an earlier report that the Warriors would be “significant” front-runners to sign Durant should he leave the team.

Big-name free agents, including Durant, don’t care about whether a team has high-value assets such as top draft picks or young prospects because those are not going to help a team win a championship right away. If Durant is going to leave Oklahoma City, it’s going to be for a place that can win a championship and part of his criteria will be whether the destination is good enough to beat top teams, like the Warriors, with him on it, sources tell Wojnarowski.

Here’s more from the Pacific Division:

Executive/coach Doc Rivers believes the addition of Jeff Green gives the Clippers a fighting chance against the top teams in the Western Conference, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee writes. “When you look at the teams we have to beat, we need to get longer, more athletic, and we need to increase our shooting,” Rivers said. “And I think with Jeff we did all three of those things.
The Clippers could get Austin Rivers, who has been sidelined with a broken left hand, back on the court in less than two weeks, Dan Woike of the Orange County Register tweets.
With Markieff Morris out of the picture, the Suns can finally start to build for the future, Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic argues. Bickley believes the Suns should acquire players who resonate with the community, similar to how other professional franchises in Phoenix have done.

Western Notes: Kings, Clippers, Rockets, Warriors

February 11th, 2016 at 2:56pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Kings will try to make defensive improvements at the trade deadline, GM Vlade Divac said on “The Grant Napear Show” on CBS Sports 1140 in Sacramento, tweets James Ham of CSN California. The Rockets would prefer to add a shooter via trade, Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com hears (Twitter link). The Clippers are expected to assess their need for a backup point guard with Austin Rivers injured, according to Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times (on Twitter). The Warriors, meanwhile, aren’t looking to fix what isn’t broken, as GM Bob Myers said in a radio appearance on 95.7 The Game, as Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group relays (Twitter link).

“It’d have to be something unbelievable to really mess with the chem & the personnel on the team,” Myers said.

See more from the Western Conference:

Divac acknowledged that he was thinking about making a coaching change and had full authority to do so, but simply decided against it, as he said in an appearance on “The Grant Napear Show” on CBSports 1140 in Sacramento, notes Sean Cunningham of KXTV-TV in Sacramento (Twitter link). However, the resistance that Kings minority-share owners put up against eating the rest of George Karl‘s salary also played into the decision to keep the coach, as Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com said today in an appearance on ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike” show (audio link), and as RealGM transcribes. That jibes with an earlier suggestion from Sam Amick of USA Today. Vivek Ranadive owns a controlling share of the team, but it doesn’t constitute a majority of the franchise, Windhorst points out.
Communication with management didn’t go smoothly for former Kings coach Tyrone Corbin last season, as he said this week on SiriusXM NBA Radio’s “NBA Today” show (Twitter link; audio link). “It was a mess. The organization was kind of playing it both ways,” Corbin said.
Bryce Dejean-Jones and the Pelicans have only slightly different figures in mind, Scott Kushner of The New Orleans Advocate hears, advancing his earlier report that the rookie shooting guard is in talks with the Pels and other teams (Twitter links). The shooting guard is seeking a two- or three-year deal following the expiration of his second 10-day contract with New Orleans on Wednesday, Kushner adds. The Pelicans are ineligible to sign him to any more 10-day deals.
The Rockets offered Josh Smith more money in free agency last summer than the minimum-salary deal he signed with the Clippers, Rockets GM Daryl Morey said on the “Chad, Joe & Lo” show on 95.7 The Game in the Bay Area (audio link; transcription via HoopsHype). Smith wound up with the Rockets anyway via trade.