Atlantic Notes: Leonard, Raptors Workout, Russell, Eisley
Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard filed a federal lawsuit against Nike on Monday, claiming he designed the logo that appeared on his Nike apparel and the company copyrighted the logo without his consent, Matthew Kish of the PDX Biz Journal reports.
In a separate development that could foretell his summer plans, Leonard apparently bought property in his current NBA city, according to Michael Landsberg of TSN (hat tip to Dan Feldman of NBC Sports). Landsberg said in a radio interview that “What we’ve heard is that he’s purchased a property in Toronto,” and that “we’ve heard this now from two different sources.” That could be an indication that Leonard, who will opt out and become a free agent this summer, plans to stick with the Raptors.
We have more news from the Atlantic Division:
- The Raptors will hold their fourth pre-draft workout on Tuesday, according to Blake Murphy of The Athletic (Twitter link). The list includes guards Jalen Adams (UConn) Australian William McDowell-White, Kyle Allman (Cal State Fullerton) and Jared Harper (Auburn) and forwards Dedric Lawson (Kansas) and Dean Wade (Kansas State).
- Nets guard D’Angelo Russell expects that he’ll have to be patient in free agency, Brian Lewis of the New York Post reports. Russell will be a restricted free agent. “It’s more of just the waiting game as far as chess moves have to be made,” Russell told Lewis. “There’s a lot of big fish out there that have to find their destinations so I think I’ll [fall in line after that]. There are a lot of fish out there that need to find destinations. So whenever that time comes then I have decisions to make on my own, I think I’ll be well ready for it.”
- Knicks assistant coach Howard Eisley is expected to join Michigan’s staff under former Heat assistant Juwan Howard, Brendan Quinn of The Athletic tweets.
Pacific Notes: Durant, Suns, Kings, Clippers
As relayed by The Associated Press, this Tuesday is the next time we may know more about a possible return of Warriors superstar Kevin Durant. Having already been ruled out for tonight’s Game 2, Wednesday night’s Game 3 marks the next opportunity for Durant’s return, but Tuesday is Golden State’s next practice.
Head coach Steve Kerr, having already said that Durant will need to practice before playing in a game, expounded upon his stance today, saying that Durant could potentially only need one day of practice to be cleared for game action.
“It’s really a day-to-day thing,” Kerr said “If we had a crystal ball, we would have known a long time ago what we were dealing with. But it’s just an injury (where) there’s been a lot of gray area. So, literally, it’s just day-to-day and how the progress is coming. And at this point he’s still not ready.”
But, when further pressed on the issue, and asked whether Durant will only need one practice, said “it’s feasible.” Accordingly, we should know a lot more on Tuesday as to whether Durant can return for Game 3.
There’s more from the Pacific Division this afternoon:
- The Suns have worked out Tennessee’s Grant Williams, Boston College’s Ky Bowman, Florida State’s Terance Mann, and Michigan’s Charles Matthews, among many others (click here for links).
- In their eighth pre-draft workout of the year, the Kings will work out guards Frankie Ferrari, Josh Perkins, Zach Norvell Jr., and Charlie Brown, and big men Dewan Hernandez and Sacha Killeya-Jones, the team announced.
- According to Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype, the Clippers will work out Dontay Carruthers, Sedrick Barefield, Ahmed Hill, Cody Martin, Daulton Hommes and Dean Wade.
Draft Notes: Vick, Caroline, Kings
The NBA Draft is less than one month away. As we await the big night, let’s take a look at some workout notes:
- Lagerald Vick (Kansas) will work out for the Knicks on Monday, per Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link). Vick will also work out with the Thunder and Bulls in the coming days.
- Jordan Caroline (Nevada) will work out for the Suns, Nuggets, and Hornets, per ESPN’s Jordan Schultz (Twitter link). Caroline made All-Team Mountain West during both his junior and senior seasons.
- Justin Simon (St. Johns) has worked out for the Celtics, according to Adam Zagoria of the New York Times (Twitter link). Simon is not ranked in ESPN’s Top 100.
- The Kings worked out six prospects on Thursday, according to the team’s website. Alex Robinson (TCU), Justin Wright-Foreman (Hofstra), Justin James (Wyoming), Jaylen Hoard (Wake Forest), Dean Wade (Kansas State), and Bennie Boatwright (USC).
- The Kings will also work out six more prospects on Friday, per their website. Ky Bowman (Boston College), Justin Robinson (Virginia Tech), Brandon Randolph (Arizona), Marial Shayok (Iowa State), Donta Hall (Alabama), and Josh Sharma (Stanford) are all expected to be in attendance.