Extension Rumors: Nets, Hyland, Mitchell
Three Nets players — Cam Thomas, Day’Ron Sharpe and Ziaire Williams — are eligible for rookie scale extensions until Monday at 5:00 pm CT. Sources tell Brian Lewis of The New York Post (Twitter link) that none of the three are expected to reach agreements, which means the trio will hit restricted free agency next summer if they receive qualifying offers.
Thomas, who turned 23 years old last week, led Brooklyn in scoring last season (22.5 PPG) and could see his role expand further after the Nets traded Mikal Bridges in the offseason. Sharpe has spent most of the past three seasons as Brooklyn’s backup center, while former lottery pick Williams was acquired in an offseason trade with Memphis (it was a salary dump for the Grizzlies).
The Nets project to be one of the few teams with significant cap room in 2025 free agency, so Lewis’ report isn’t exactly surprising, but it’s certainly noteworthy that they seem to be aiming to preserve as much financial flexibility as possible heading into the 2025/26 league year.
Here are a couple more rookie scale extension rumors heading into today’s deadline:
- Fourth-year guard Bones Hyland will not be signing an extension with the Clippers, according to NBA insider Chris Haynes (Twitter link). Hyland only appeared in 37 games last season, posting career lows in most major statistics, and was reportedly unhappy with his limited role. He’ll earn $4.16MM in ’24/25 ahead of possible restricted free agency next summer.
- The Raptors and point guard Davion Mitchell are not expected to reach an agreement on an extension, tweets Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. The No. 9 overall pick of the 2021 draft, Mitchell was sent to Toronto from Sacramento in a salary-dump deal over the offseason. As Grange observes, holding off on a new contract makes some sense for both parties — Mitchell will get a chance to prove his value, while the Raptors will get a full season to evaluate whether the former Baylor star should be in their plans going forward. Like the other players mentioned, Mitchell will be a RFA in 2025 if he’s tendered a qualifying offer.
Kuminga, Suggs, Giddey Among Extension Candidates Seeking $30MM+ Annually
The deadline for teams to sign players to rookie scale contract extensions falls on Monday and will force several clubs to make tough decisions.
The Warriors have two players under consideration for rookie scale extensions: Jonathan Kuminga and Moses Moody. As we relayed Friday evening, Moody appears more likely than Kuminga to receive an extension by Monday. Moody is in line to receive minutes at the wing spot in the wake up Klay Thompson‘s departure, and NBA insider Jake Fischer reports he could earn more than $10MM per season on his extension (Threads link).
However, Kuminga is seeking a near-max contract that would pay him north of $30MM annually. According to Fischer, the Warriors have “never seemed intent” on paying the forward that kind of money ahead of the season. That tracks with earlier reporting, which suggested that both sides are content to wait to see if Kuminga takes another step forward in 2024/25 and helps propel the team back into contention as its second- or third-best player. In that scenario, he would presumably be rewarded in restricted free agency next offseason.
Moody averaged 8.1 points and 3.0 rebounds per game last season while Kuminga broke out, averaging 16.1 PPG on 52.9% shooting from the field.
We have more on this year’s rookie scale extension candidates:
- According to Fischer, Atlanta’s Jalen Johnson is facing a similar situation to Kuminga. However, there’s “far more optimism” that the Hawks and Johnson will finalize a deal worth north of $30MM each year, which is said to be the starting point for negotiations with the former Duke standout. Johnson broke out in a big way last season, jumping from 5.6 PPG and 4.0 RPG in 2022/23 to 16.0 PPG and 8.7 RPG. He’s primed to be a long-term fixture in Atlanta as one of the Hawks’ franchise cornerstones.
- Magic guard Jalen Suggs is seeking an extension worth more than $30MM annually in talks with Orlando, NBA insider Marc Stein reports (Twitter link). It’s unclear whether or not Orlando is prepared to make that sort of offer, but Suggs emerged as one of the best defensive guards in the league last season, earning a spot on the All-Defensive Second Team, averaging 12.6 PPG and 1.4 SPG, improving his outside shooting to 39.7%, and helping the young Magic to a 47-win season.
- Immanuel Quickley‘s five-year, $162.5MM contract with the Raptors is said to have set a benchmark for young guards across the league, Fischer says, confirming previous reporting. Bulls guard/forward Josh Giddey is also seeking at least $30MM per year on his next extension. However, the Bulls are more interested in seeing how Giddey fits with the team before committing that kind of money to him. Chicago traded Alex Caruso for Giddey in June.
- The Rockets haven’t been willing to this point to approach a maximum-salary deal for either Jalen Green or Alperen Sengun, according to Fischer. We relayed Friday that the Rockets have held productive conversations with both players, submitting offers to each, but that those offers were below the max. Fischer indicates that Houston is completely fine with not agreeing to terms with either before the year begins.
- Clippers guard Bones Hyland and Nets young players Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe are not expected to agree to terms on a rookie scale extension, according to Fischer. However, there remains some optimism that Hornets guard Tre Mann, Pacers forward Isaiah Jackson and Wizards wing Corey Kispert will be able to sign extensions by Monday’s deadline.
- Quentin Grimes has emerged as a real candidate to receive an extension by Monday, according to Stein (Twitter link). Grimes was acquired by the Mavericks in exchange for Tim Hardaway Jr. this offseason and he’s averaged 8.5 PPG across three NBA seasons. His deal would presumably be in the ballpark of Moody’s, perhaps a bit more than $10MM per year.
Pacific Notes: Hield, Knecht, Hyland, Eubanks, Suns
New Warriors sharpshooter Buddy Hield, who ranks 22nd all-time among NBA players in career three-pointers, will be the de facto replacement for the player who ranks sixth on that all-time list (Klay Thompson). Asked this week if he feels pressure to replicate the production and the outside shooting that Thompson provided for years in Golden State, Hield downplayed that idea.
“There’s no pressure,” Hield said, per Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. “Just come and do my job. What Klay has done for this organization has been tremendous. I love Klay a lot. I’ve watched him over the years. He’s special. The way he can get hot and the way he can just change the game and be the two-way player that he is, and the champion that he is. So, I don’t look at it as pressure. I think it’s fun just being in that role and seeing if I can get the same looks he got.”
Hield has never been as effective an all-around player as Thompson was in his prime years, and he certainly can’t match the former Warriors’ postseason accomplishments, having appeared in a playoff game for the first time this spring. However, the two players’ career shooting numbers are quite similar — Thompson has made 3.1 of 7.6 three-pointers per game (41.3%) in 793 contests, while Hield has knocked down 3.0 of 7.6 per game (40.0%) in 632 outings.
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- Dalton Knecht has been the best player on the Lakers‘ Summer League roster and already looks like a potential steal as the No. 17 pick in this year’s draft, according to Jovan Buha of The Athletic, who says the rookie forward projects to be in the top nine of L.A.’s rotation in the regular season. Entering Thursday’s contest, Knecht has averaged 22.0 PPG with a .412 3PT% in his first two games in Vegas.
- Bones Hyland saw more playing time for the Clippers during the final month-and-a-half of the 2023/24 season and won’t have Russell Westbrook ahead of him on the depth chart in ’24/25. However, with Kris Dunn and Kevin Porter Jr. now in the mix in a Los Angeles backcourt that also features James Harden, Norman Powell, and Terance Mann, there’s still no clear path to regular playing time for Hyland, who remains on the trade block, according to Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link).
- Although Drew Eubanks decided well ahead of his player option deadline to opt out of his deal and become a free agent, he wasn’t necessarily set on leaving the Suns, as Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic relays. “The interest was always there for me to return (to Phoenix),” said Eubanks, who ultimately agreed to a deal with Utah. “The notion of it being a ‘mutual split’ is just factually false. There were a lot of conversations about me coming back this next year from the moment the season ended and into free agency. At the end of the day, there were other opportunities and I had to make the best decision for myself and my family. Loved my year in Phoenix.”
- The Suns will hire John Little as the head coach of their new NBA G League affiliate, the Valley Suns, sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link). Little was previously part of G League coaching staffs with Maine and Wisconsin.
Clippers Notes: Westbrook, Leonard, Harden, Hyland
The Clippers have gone 7-2 in games in which Russell Westbrook has shouldered a full workload since returning from hand surgery on March 25, helping Los Angeles regain some of the form that earned the team the top spot in the West earlier this season, ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk writes. Westbrook became the Clippers’ sixth man after they traded for James Harden, which helped propel the team to its best regular season in the Kawhi Leonard/Paul George era.
“I know who I am and what I’m able to bring to the game,” Westbrook said. “Nobody’s able to do what I can do since I got in this league. And the reason why I’m in the position I’m in is because nobody ever knew I could do [it on a] night-in and night-out basis.”
Westbrook, who has made 116 career playoff starts, will come off the bench for the first time in the postseason in the Clips’ first-round series against the Mavericks. When it comes to establishing identity and making four high-profile stars work together, George and coach Tyronn Lue pointed to Westbrook’s contributions, according to Youngmisuk.
“We owed it to him to make it work,” George said. “All of us collectively, we know what sacrifice looks like now.”
It was Westbrook who came to Lue with the idea of coming off the bench when the Clippers lost six straight after acquiring Harden. Although he’s averaging a career-low of 11.2 points per game, he’s playing better defense and said he’s in a better place mentally, according to Youngmisuk, who says Westbrook is happy in Los Angeles and is ready for whatever the future brings, whether that’s with the Clippers or not.
“If I’m here, if I’m there, I’ll do whatever the team is asking me to do,” Westbrook said. “I think there’s a narrative that people have made up that I have been fighting against …. But I’m always a team-first guy. I know how good I still am. So it doesn’t matter — starting or coming off the bench — because I know and understand what I bring to the game.”
We have more from the Clippers:
- Leonard has missed the past seven games with left knee soreness and inflammation. The Orange County Register’s Mirjam Swanson argues the team is being too vague when it comes to disclosing timelines for his injuries. “With Kawhi, he’s dealing with inflammation. It’s no secret he’s had a couple surgeries to that knee. It’s not uncommon over the course of it where you deal with inflammation. With inflammation, it limits your ability to make some natural basketball moves, so he’s working his tail off, the staff is working their tail off to try to help with the inflammation,” president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said Friday of Leonard (Twitter link via Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints).
- Harden missed the past two games with a foot issue, but he started on Friday against the Jazz, though he only played nine minutes. According to Youngmisuk (Twitter link), Lue isn’t sure whether Harden’s foot injury is something that will need to be managed in the playoffs.
- Bones Hyland saw his role reduced after Harden was acquired this year and he was briefly sent home alongside P.J. Tucker in February as both appeared disgruntled with their playing time, Janis Carr of The Orange County Register writes. Hyland has taken on a bigger role since the beginning of March and has scored 57 points over his past two games. He’s is staying ready for when the team needs him, according to Carr, and is hoping to be a part of the playoff rotation. “He’s done a great job of just sticking with it, continuing to keep working, putting the work in every single day,” Lue said. “And when his name has been called, he’s been good for us. He loves to compete, he loves to play, but right now with the circumstances the way they are, he’s done a good job of just handling the whole situation.“
Pacific Notes: O’Neale, Allen, Hyland, Leonard, Monk, Sabonis
Suns coach Frank Vogel switched up his rotation in the team’s 124-108 win over the Clippers on Wednesday, Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic reports. Royce O’Neale was inserted into the lineup in place of Grayson Allen, while Thaddeus Young replaced Drew Eubanks as the backup center.
However, the Suns could go right back to Allen as the starter against Sacramento on Friday. “It’s just something we’ve been talking about,” Vogel said. “If we get into a playoff matchup where we have a bigger opponent, then we feel like (O’Neale’s) size in the starting lineup is something that would make sense. We didn’t want to go to that with Grayson coming off the bench for the first time having never done it. We used this one game to let Grayson just feel the rhythm of coming off the bench, if it’s needed in the playoffs.”
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Ivica Zubac and Norman Powell sat out the second game of a back-to-back on Wednesday. Bones Hyland carried the Clippers‘ offense in their absence, pumping in a career-high 37 points, Janis Carr of the Orange County Register notes. Leonard sat out his sixth consecutive game because of inflammation in his right knee. He might not return until the postseason but coach Tyronn Lue believes his superstar forward will be ready to go by that point.
- Kings guard Malik Monk was the solid frontrunner for the Sixth Man of the Year award until he suffered a sprained MCL in his right knee late last month. Center Domantas Sabonis said Monk still deserves the honor. “Monk has to win it,” Sabonis told HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto. “If he doesn’t win it, it’s rigged. He definitely brings energy and light. If we’re down, he’s always up and in a good mood off the court, too, so that really helps during a long season with ups and downs.” Coach Mike Brown concurs. “It should not even be a debate on Sixth Man of the Year with Malik’s body of work and us fighting for a playoff spot,” Brown said. “He should be the hands-down winner.”
- Monk will be an unrestricted free agent after the season. Sacramento has Early Bird rights on Monk and can sign him up to $78MM over four years. “I’d love to play here again, for sure. I’ve been here for two years and made friends with everyone, including the training staff and front office,” Monk told Scotto. Sabonis said the organization can’t afford to lose him: “We’ve got to keep him. He’s a big piece for us moving forward.”
- Sabonis saw his 61-game double-double streak end on Tuesday, Cliff Brunt of The Associated Press writes. He had eight points and 13 rebounds against Oklahoma City. It’s the seventh-longest streak in league history and the longest since the NBA and ABA merged prior to the 1976/77 season.
Pacific Notes: D-Lo, Schröder, Curry, Kings, Hyland, Harden
While D’Angelo Russell had some good moments for the Lakers in last year’s playoffs, he also struggled mightily in the Western Conference Finals against the eventual champion Nuggets, leading to him being benched in Game 4 in favor of Dennis Schröder, a superior defender who had a preexisting relationship with head coach Darvin Ham. Russell, on the other hand, was acquired in a trade last February, meaning he’d only known Ham for a few months.
Russell claims he was “the scapegoat” for that series, which saw Denver sweep Los Angeles, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
“(Schröder’s) relationship with Darvin is the reason I couldn’t have a relationship with Darvin,” Russell said. “When I was struggling, I would’ve been able to come to the coach and say, ‘Bro, this is what we should do. Like, I can help you.’ Instead, there was no dialogue. … I just accepted it.
“And we got swept and I’m here and he’s not. And I like our chances.”
As McMenamin writes, Russell initially wasn’t enthusiastic about re-signing with L.A. as a free agent last summer, apparently in part due to the presence of Schröder. But on the first day of free agency, the Lakers wound up signing Gabe Vincent and Schröder signed with Toronto (he has since been traded to Brooklyn). Russell inked a two-year deal with the Lakers the following day.
The Lakers and Russell reached a compromise on that contract — he got a player option for 2024/25, but he also waived his ability to veto a trade.
Russell was featured prominently in trade rumors for months leading up to last month’s deadline, McMenamin notes, but the Lakers wound up keeping him because he’s been playing so well of late — since January 13, a span of 27 games (36.1 MPG), the 28-year-old is averaging 21.9 PPG, 6.4 APG and 3.2 RPG with a highly efficient .472/.452/.840 shooting line.
If he maintains that level of play in the postseason, Russell could very well decline his $18.7MM player option for next season and become an unrestricted free agent again in 2024.
Here’s more from the Pacific:
- For his part, former Lakers guard Schröder said he was confused by Russell’s comments, tweets Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “I don’t understand it,” the German veteran said. “But at the end of the day, it just shows off immaturity. You’re not really mature if you’re just keeping somebody’s name in his mouth and just running it. I don’t understand.” Ham also responded to Russell’s comments from McMenamin’s article, saying their relationship “is in a great place,” as Jovan Buha of The Athletic relays in a Twitter thread. “We have great conversations,” Ham said. “Great text exchanges after games. During the game our in-game conversations. … It’s tough. That’s why the phrase is called ‘building a relationship.’”
- The Warriors expect star guard Stephen Curry to return to action on Saturday vs. the Lakers, tweets Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area. Curry, who has missed the past three games with a right ankle sprain, said “that’s the plan” when asked if he was going to suit up tomorrow, per Mark Medina of Sportskeeda (Twitter link).
- Kings guard Keon Ellis was in the starting lineup the past two games, and his defense on Damian Lillard and Russell was critical in both victories, writes Hunter Patterson of The Athletic. Sacramento knows it needs to continue to play strong defense to have a shot at advancing out of the first round of the playoffs for the first time in 20 years, Patterson adds.
- The Kings are now 6-0 when Ellis starts. Will he continue to start going forward? Head coach Mike Brown sounded pretty skeptical about that possibility, per James Ham of The Kings Beat (Twitter video link). However, Brown said the second-year guard could finish games at times, similar to Sixth Man of the Year frontrunner Malik Monk.
- With James Harden out with a shoulder injury, Clippers guard Bones Hyland made the most of his opportunity in Thursday’s victory over the Bulls, observes K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago. Hyland, who was often left open due to the attention paid to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, recorded 17 points (on 6-of-9 shooting), 11 assists, five rebounds and four steals in 32 minutes. Harden will miss his second straight game on Friday, though head coach Tyronn Lue said the former MVP is “feeling better,” tweets Law Murray of The Athletic.
L.A. Notes: Hyland, Zubac, Westbrook, Dinwiddie, Giles
The fractured left hand that Russell Westbrook suffered Friday night has created an opportunity for Bones Hyland, writes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. Hyland played 16 minutes after Westbrook left the game, and he may have a spot in the Clippers‘ rotation for the foreseeable future.
“It’s been a long time,” Hyland said, “but honestly I’m just ready to keep contributing to the team, build up these wins and carry this momentum into the thing that we all want to do.”
Carr points out that Hyland averaged 26.2 minutes and 13.6 points in the season’s first five games. But he became a forgotten man after the James Harden trade was completed, logging 34 DNPs since November 10 and being listed as inactive five times. He admits it has been “challenging” and credits Westbrook for providing encouragement while he waited for playing time.
“Russ has been a great leader to me, man, since I came here, even before I got here,” Hyland said. “He’s always been that guy I can go talk to. … In this whole process, he told me to stay down, stay hungry, stay in the gym, just keep being myself and it’ll come back around full circle.”
There’s more from Los Angeles:
- Center Ivica Zubac was able to travel with the Clippers after missing the past two games with an undisclosed illness, per Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. He’s listed as questionable for Sunday afternoon’s contest in Minnesota. “I hope I can play,” Zubac said. “I didn’t come all this way not to play. But I guess it’s up to the medical staff, but I hope I can play.”
- Clippers coach Tyronn Lue talked about the effect that losing Westbrook will have on the team, Turner adds. “Russ plays every night, so just to see him go through something like this is tough on everybody,” Lue said. “He wants to compete in practice, in games, in everything.”
- Spencer Dinwiddie, who signed with the Lakers last month after being waived by Toronto, is becoming more comfortable with his new team, according to Khobi Price of The Orange County Register. Coach Darvin Ham said his advice to Dinwiddie was “be aggressive and let us figure it out around you.”
- Harry Giles will report to the Lakers Sunday on his new two-way contract, tweets Jovan Buha of The Athletic. Ham told reporters that he’s happy to find a promising talent to fortify the frontcourt (video link). “I think he’s a really good young player,” Ham said. “He was available and we saw an opportunity to gain a little insurance at that position. … He’s also someone we can take a long, hard look at as far as implementing him into the program.”
Clippers Notes: Leonard, Gallinari, Tucker, Hyland
Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard missed his fifth game of the season on Wednesday vs. Golden State due to a left adductor strain, but head coach Tyronn Lue said the injury isn’t significant, according to Kendra Andrews of ESPN.
“I don’t think it’s that serious,” Lue said before Wednesday’s game. “He played through it last game (on Monday), was experiencing some soreness in the hip, so when the game got out of reach we didn’t bring him back in the fourth quarter to be smart about it.”
Leonard was named to his sixth All-Star team in 2023/24, but his status for this weekend’s exhibition game is to be determined. The 32-year-old is expected to travel to Indianapolis either way, a source told ESPN.
Here’s more on the Clippers, who are currently 36-17, the No. 3 seed in the West:
- Bucks guard Patrick Beverley sent out a tweet through his podcast’s account saying veteran forward Danilo Gallinari will either sign with the Clippers or the Bucks. While he couldn’t corroborate Milwaukee’s interest, Law Murray of The Athletic confirms (Twitter link) the Clippers are open to a reunion with Gallinari, who spent two seasons with the Clips from 2017-19. However, as Murray observes, the Clippers currently have a full roster, and there isn’t an obvious candidate to be released. The 35-year-old became an unrestricted free agent after he was waived by Detroit last week. The Suns are reportedly among the teams interested in Gallinari’s services.
- Forward P.J. Tucker claims that not playing leading up to the trade deadline was a “collaborative decision” with the Clippers, according to Shams Charania and Law Murray of The Athletic. Tucker hasn’t played in a game since November 27. “It was agreed upon that I would sit,” Tucker told The Athletic over the weekend. “I didn’t just sit, it was agreed upon. Until they moved me, I would sit. They didn’t do it. But (I) try to be professional, as professional as possible. But at the same time, if I don’t advocate for myself, who is? You know? But it is what it is, man.” Tucker was fined $75K on Thursday for publicly expressing a desire to be traded.
- Tucker also told The Athletic it’s unrealistic to expect him to be productive in the postseason after not playing for so long in the regular season. “Becoming teammates, you’re building bonds,” Tucker said. “You have to take time when you have something built. Can’t just throw somebody out there, ‘Go play now.’ You know what I’m saying? It don’t work like that. So I don’t know where it goes from here. I don’t know. I know what they think is going to happen. But I don’t think it happens like that. Just throw somebody in the playoffs in the second round. ‘Alright, now go do what you do.’ Don’t work like that.”
- Speaking to reporters on Wednesday morning about sending home Tucker and Bones Hyland, Lue suggested that Hyland may have submitted his own trade request prior to last week’s deadline after receiving scant playing time the past few months. The third-year guard has struggled in his limited garbage-time minutes, Charania and Murray note. “You want to have competitors on your team,” Lue said. “They want to play. So when you try to get traded, it doesn’t work out, and you want to go to a place (where you can) play, it doesn’t mean they’re not happy here. They are. But they want to play, they want to compete.” Tucker holds a $11.54MM player option for 2024/25, while Hyland is owed a guaranteed $4.16MM in the final season of his rookie scale contract.
Clippers’ Tucker, Hyland Away From Team; Expected Back After All-Star Break
10:42am: The Clippers sent home both Tucker and Hyland ahead of Wednesday’s game vs. Golden State, Charania confirms (via Twitter). Like Tucker, Hyland is expected to rejoin the team after the All-Star break.
9:54am: Clippers forward P.J. Tucker won’t be with the team for its final game before the All-Star break on Wednesday in Golden State, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who reports that the forward’s absence will give him an opportunity to “reset” ahead of the home stretch of the season.
Tucker is expected to rejoin the Clippers after the All-Star break, sources tell Charania. The club’s post-All-Star schedule begins with a back-to-back road set in Oklahoma City and Memphis on February 22 and 23.
As Charania notes, Tucker – who was sent along with James Harden from Philadelphia to Los Angeles at the start of November – has been unhappy with his situation in L.A. for much of the season.
The 38-year-old hasn’t seen action since November 27 after initially playing a rotation role for the Clippers. He averaged just 1.2 points and 2.4 rebounds in 14.4 minutes per game across 12 appearances off the bench for his new team, making 4-of-14 field goal attempts (28.6%).
Reports of Tucker’s discontent first surfaced in December. In the days and weeks that followed, he repeatedly expressed frustration with his lack of playing time, and the Clippers reportedly made an effort to trade him at last Thursday’s deadline. However, he presumably had negative value on the trade market due to the $11.54MM player option on his contract for next season, and L.A. didn’t find a deal.
Because Tucker isn’t on an expiring contract, a buyout isn’t an option receiving consideration, according to Charania, who hears from sources that the Clippers and Tucker had “productive” and “much-needed” discussions this week about the forward staying ready to potentially reenter the club’s rotation.
Asked about Tucker’s situation following the trade deadline last week, head coach Tyronn Lue downplayed the veteran’s dissatisfaction and told reporters that he’ll “get an opportunity.”
Neither Charania nor Lue offered any specific details on a plan or timeline for Tucker to rejoin the rotation, so it’s unclear when exactly that might happen. Given that the Clippers have gone 28-8 since Tucker last played, they’re likely not eager to mess too much with what’s working.
For what it’s worth, Bones Hyland – another Clipper who has been out of the rotation and whose name surfaced in trade rumors ahead of the deadline – was added to the injury report along with Tucker last night. They’re both listed as “not with team” for Wednesday’s game vs. the Warriors.
Scotto’s Latest: Mavs, Washington, Grimes, Pacers, Hornets, Hyland, More
The Mavericks and Hornets have discussed various P.J. Washington trade concepts that include a future first-round pick from Dallas, league sources tell Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
According to Scotto, if Charlotte is going to agree to take back Richaun Holmes, who holds a $12.9MM player option for next season, in exchange for Washington, the Hornets want that Dallas first-rounder to be unprotected. The Mavs have resisted that idea so far, Scotto writes, adding that Seth Curry has also been part of those trade discussions between the two teams.
While Scotto doesn’t say that Grant Williams has come up in the trade talks between the Mavs and Hornets, he suggests it wouldn’t be a surprise if that’s the case, since Dallas has talked about Williams with multiple teams already.
In addition to Washington, the Mavs have expressed interest in Raptors wing Bruce Brown and Knicks wing Quentin Grimes, among others, Scotto reports. League sources tell HoopsHype that Dallas explored acquiring Grimes in exchange for a package headlined by Josh Green, but New York turned down the proposal.
Here’s more from Scotto, with just hours to go until Thursday’s trade deadline:
- Although Buddy Hield is considered Indiana’s top trade candidate, rival executives think the Pacers might move some of their frontcourt depth, with Obi Toppin and Jalen Smith among the players believed to be available, Scotto writes. Lottery pick Jarace Walker, on the other hand, remains off limits based on what the Pacers are telling other clubs, league sources tell HoopsHype.
- The Hornets have expressed interest in Bones Hyland, according to Scotto, who says the Clippers are seeking a pair of second-round picks in exchange for the third-year guard.
- Despite some speculation that the Nets are interested in D’Angelo Russell, Brooklyn hasn’t had any “substantive” talks with the Lakers and/or Hawks about getting involved in a potential Dejounte Murray trade to acquire Russell, Scotto reports.
- The Pistons and Grizzlies continue to talk about a possible Killian Hayes trade, with second-round draft compensation serving as the sticking point, per Scotto.