Pacific Notes: Johnson, Brown, Kings, Green
Suns forward Cameron Johnson hoped to sign a rookie scale extension before the deadline passed on Monday, but the two sides were unable to reach an agreement. He says he’s still focused on the task at hand.
“I would’ve loved to have come to a conclusion,” Johnson said, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. “I love it here, but the fact of the matter is that I’m here for this year and that is what I’m focused on. I’m excited. We’ve got a good group. We’ve had a good group and we want to win a championship.”
The 26-year-old, who will be a restricted free agent next summer, suggested that the tenuous ownership situation played a factor in negotiations
“Negotiations are interesting, especially when ownership is unclear,” said Johnson, a reference to majority owner Robert Sarver announcing his intention to sell the team after backlash from an NBA investigation into his behavior within the organization.
“Extremely interesting,” Johnson continued. “Once you see that the situation is what it is, you can get over it relatively quickly and just be excited for the opportunity that’s been put in front of you.”
Johnson exited the team’s 107-105 comeback victory over Dallas early in the fourth quarter with right quad cramps, but he said he should be good to go for Friday’s contest at Portland, Rankin relays in another story for The Arizona Republic.
Here’s more from the Pacific:
- Not reaching an extension with Johnson feels like a missed opportunity for the Suns to put “some of the negativity and uncertainty of the offseason” in the rear-view mirror, according to Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports, who notes that Johnson could raise his stock significantly as a full-time starter in 2022/23. As Bourguet writes, failing to secure Johnson as a long-term fixture of the team’s core after Deandre Ayton‘s messy restricted free agency over the summer makes it seem like the Suns didn’t learn how protracted contract negotiations can negatively impact players.
- Kings head coach Mike Brown says he’s focused on ending the team’s 16-year playoff drought, which is an NBA record. “We love the fans. We do. And they’re great fans, but even if the fans didn’t feel like we needed to make the playoffs, I’m not here to coach regular-season games. It’s just as simple as that,” he said (Twitter link via Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee).
- Brown and center Domantas Sabonis have helped improve the Kings‘ vibes and culture, writes Chris Biderman of The Sacramento Bee. Brown has brought consistent energy and a “serious-yet-playful” personality to the team, while Sabonis hosted several teammates at his new offseason home in Napa, California to watch last season’s Finals and play pickup games. “The vibes were great,” Sabonis told The Bee. “If you’re an average team and if your off-court (dynamic) is amazing, you’re not an average team any more, you’re definitely better. I’m a firm believer in that.” As Biderman notes, it was the first offseason as a King for Sabonis, who only appeared in 15 games with Sacramento in ’21/22 after he was acquired from Indiana in a February trade.
- Don’t expect the Warriors to consider an in-season trade for Draymond Green this season despite the uncomfortable situation he caused by punching Jordan Poole, ESPN’s Zach Lowe said on his Lowe Post podcast (hat tip to RealGM). “If anything, I think that may be underplaying the level of iciness and tension that they’re navigating right now,” Lowe said. “And that’s not to say ‘Are they going to trade Draymond?’ Everything I’ve heard is they are not trading Draymond. They’re just not going to happen. They’re trying to win the championship and will try to ride it out unless something drastic happens. Draymond is going to be on the team all season.”
Warriors Notes: Poole, Curry, Green, Toscano-Anderson, Thompson
After taking a punch from teammate Draymond Green, Jordan Poole was advised by some of his closest confidants that maybe he shouldn’t sign a rookie scale extension with the Warriors, Logan Murdock of The Ringer reports.
Members of Poole’s inner circle were concerned that the team dynamics would be too difficult to repair. Before Green was reinstated from his team-imposed suspension, Golden State officials ran it by Poole.
Ultimately, Poole couldn’t pass up the financial security, as he chose to ink a four-year extension that can be worth up to $140MM.
We have more on the Warriors:
- Stephen Curry is confident that Green will handle the adversity that he brought upon himself, Curry told Shayna Rubin of the Orange County Register. “He’ll figure it out. We will have his back for the entire process,” he said. “He doesn’t need anyone to hold his hand. He responds well to adversity and critics.”
- Juan Toscano-Anderson, now a member of the Lakers, received his championship ring during the season opener on Tuesday. He told Jovan Buha of The Athletic beforehand that he’s grateful to be part of the ceremony. “I think it’s bittersweet, man,” Toscano-Anderson said. “… I’m excited to go back and get my ring. It’s pretty dope that I’m gonna be able to celebrate the ring ceremony on opening night with those guys, when the actual ring ceremony is bound to happen.”
- While some of his teammates signed extensions, Klay Thompson is now ineligible to ink one until July under current CBA rules because he has two years remaining on his contract. He anticipates everything will work itself out, as told Mark Medina of NBA.com. “I fully expect to earn another NBA contract, whether it’s this summer or next summer,” Thompson said. “I’m fully confident in my abilities. I’m not worried about an extension in the meantime because I know it’ll happen if I just do my job and I just be myself.” He’ll be an unrestricted free agent in 2024 if he doesn’t eventually sign an extension.
- What is the Warriors’ approach to its title defense and remaining a perennial contender? Anthony Slater of The Athletic takes a deep dive into those topics, exploring how the team’s two-timeline plan is progressing.
Warriors Notes: Looney, Myers, Starters, Green
Warriors starting center Kevon Looney, who signed a three-year contract worth up to $25.5MM to remain in Golden State this summer, hopes to remain with the only NBA team he has ever known for the duration of his career, per Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area.
“This is the team I got drafted to,” Looney said on NBC Sports Bay Area’s podcast Dubs Talk last month. “I love living out here. I know the system, I know the players, I know the guys. It’s home for me. This is where I wanted to be. “I’ve had a lot of great vets over the years, and they always told me to stay here as long as possible. The culture like this, it isn’t like that everywhere else. All of that was in the back of my head going into free agency.”
Poole notes that Looney was finally promoted to a starting role with the Warriors during the team’s 2021/22 championship season after spending his first six years in the league as a backup big man. Looney enjoyed one of his best regular seasons last year, appearing in all 82 games for the first time in his career, while averaging 6.0 PPG on 57.1% shooting from the floor, along with 7.3 RPG, and 2.0 APG across 21.1 MPG.
There’s more out of Golden State:
- Warriors team president Bob Myers is fully aware that the cost of the team’s roster next season projects to be at least $483MM in player salaries and luxury tax payments, writes Kendra Andrews of ESPN. “I cannot evaluate what we are going to do next season until we see what happens this season,” Myers said with regard to his team’s future roster-building in a Sunday press conference. “I just know this: There’s a huge commitment to winning. There always has been, and I believe there always will be. I am lucky to be in an [ownership] group that believes that. Their actions prove it.”
- Warriors head coach Steve Kerr suggested on Monday that he will have something of a minutes cap for starters Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins, Draymond Green and Kevon Looney on opening night. As Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area relays (via Twitter), Kerr thinks those players are not quite yet ready to play 30-plus minutes to begin the 2022/23 season. “It’s fine,” Kerr said, adding that the team will rely on its depth this week. “You just adapt and adjust.”
- Warriors power forward Draymond Green, who has not been signed to an extension despite the team dishing out lucrative long-term deals for his teammates Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins, is a good bet to pick up his $27.6MM player option for the 2023/24 season, posits Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter video link). Wojnarowski initially said Green will “almost assuredly” exercise that option before clarifying that it’s “probably the most likely scenario” based on his projected market.
Extension Notes: Russell, G. Williams, Clarke, Poole
Timberwolves guard D’Angelo Russell is about to begin the final season of the four-year contract he signed in 2019, and will be eligible to sign an extension anytime up until June 30, 2023, the day before he reaches free agency. However, Brian Windhorst of ESPN and Darren Wolfson of SKOR North and 5 Eyewitness News suggested during the latest episode of Wolfson’s The Scoop podcast that an extension for Russell probably isn’t around the corner.
“I have not heard any discussion of him getting an extension,” Windhorst said, per RealGM.
Wolfson agreed, adding, “I think (Russell’s) representation has reached out to the Wolves, but it doesn’t seem like it’s being reciprocated.”
The Timberwolves already have significant financial commitments to Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert on their books for the next several years, and will likely be signing Anthony Edwards to a lucrative long-term contract next summer, so it makes sense that the team would be unwilling to work out a big new deal with Russell before assessing how all the pieces fit together this season.
Here are a few more extension-related notes from around the NBA:
- Celtics forward Grant Williams, extension-eligible for a few more hours, recently spoke to Brian Robb of MassLive.com about the possibility of getting a new deal. Williams shared some interesting insights, including explaining why he doesn’t view recently extended power forwards like Larry Nance Jr. and Maxi Kleber as direct comparables. “It’s one of those things like — you look at guys across the league, they maybe play different roles and a different situation,” Williams said. “You bring up Nance Jr. with the Pelicans and he’s probably their ninth or 10th man. They are one of the teams that are on the edge of making a run. Similar to Kleber’s, who is 30. He doesn’t necessarily have the versatility, the guarding — I try my best not to look at those guys. I just feel like you make your own market and understand your value.”
- Brandon Clarke‘s four-year contract extension with the Grizzlies, reported to be worth $52MM, actually has a base value of $50MM, with $2MM in total incentives ($500K per year), tweets Fred Katz of The Athletic. The deal features four flat annual cap hits of $12.5MM, adds ESPN’s Bobby Marks (via Twitter).
- Warriors guard Jordan Poole, who officially signed a four-year, $123MM+ extension on Sunday, told reporters that he “couldn’t stop smiling” when he put pen to paper on his new deal, as Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic writes. Poole didn’t have much to say about his practice altercation with Draymond Green, downplaying the impact he expects the incident to have going forward: “He apologized and we’re professionals. We plan on handling ourselves that way.”
Warriors Notes: Poole, Wiggins, Green, Thompson
Saturday’s extension with Jordan Poole was the “first domino” in the Warriors‘ financial future and it may lead to the end of Draymond Green‘s time with the organization, writes Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. Poole will receive $123MM in guaranteed money over four years in what Kawakami believes is the team’s most important personnel move since signing Kevin Durant six years ago. The Warriors defined their future even more later in the day with a four-year extension for Andrew Wiggins.
Those deals will lead to a gigantic luxury tax bill and may limit the team’s options with Green, who is also extension-eligible. Kawakami notes that Warriors are currently looking at $190MM in salary and about the same number in tax penalties, which results in a $380MM commitment. Owner Joe Lacob and others in the organization have said they’re not willing to take on an even higher tax burden, and sources tell Kawakami that moving payroll into the $500MM range would result in an annual loss of about $100MM.
Poole is entering the final year of his rookie contract and will make $3.9MM this season before jumping to nearly $28MM in 2023/24. Wiggins’ new deal will reduce his salary by $9.3MM at the same time, so Golden State needs to trim some salary elsewhere to keep its tax around the same level. Green is an obvious target, whether or not he exercises his $27.6MM player option for next season. Kawakami believes it’s likely that Green will pick up that option and his representatives will cooperate with the Warriors to work out a trade.
There’s more on the Warriors:
- Kawakami doesn’t expect the team to consider trading Klay Thompson, even though he’s owed a combined $83.8MM over the next two years. Kawakami states that Thompson is more valuable to the Warriors than he would be to another team and notes that he has been playing small forward more often, which allows more backcourt minutes for Poole and Stephen Curry.
- The Warriors are currently projected to have a $219MM total salary for 2023/24 with a tax bill of $303MM, according to salary cap expert Albert Nahmad (Twitter link). ESPN’s Bobby Marks offers a video breakdown of what Saturday’s extensions will mean for the team’s future.
- After spending a few days away from the team for punching Poole in practice, Green returned Thursday and promised to try to rebuild chemistry with his teammates, per Kendra Andrews of ESPN. “It’s about making sure our team camaraderie is right,” Green said. “You can tell when you’re playing against a team and they have good camaraderie … if not, they can be broken easy … if you have that, you can build through anything. [Our camaraderie doesn’t] get very shaken.”
Warriors Rumors: Poole, Green, Klay, Wiggins, Moody, More
If the Warriors want to sign Jordan Poole to a rookie scale extension before the October 17 deadline, it will likely require a baseline offer of $120MM over four years, according to Anthony Slater of The Athletic, who said during an appearance on the HoopsHype podcast that Tyler Herro‘s deal with Miami raised the bar for Golden State and Poole.
Slater, who believes the two sides will get something done in the coming days, suggests that the incident with Draymond Green last week might’ve create some additional urgency on the Warriors’ side, since they won’t want Poole’s contract situation hanging over his head all year after what happened with Green.
Slater also observes that there are some teams who project to have cap room next year that could realistically offer Poole a maximum-salary offer sheet. In Slater’s view, the Magic and Spurs are among the rebuilding teams who could use a backcourt scorer like Poole and would have the financial flexibility to make life difficult for the Warriors if the 23-year-old makes it to restricted free agency.
Here’s more out of Golden State:
- The Warriors appear to be in “wait-and-see” mode on potential extensions for Green and Klay Thompson, says Slater. There’s no real urgency on the Thompson front because he’s under contract for two more guaranteed seasons. Green can become a free agent next summer, but the Warriors will likely want to see how this season plays out to get a sense of how he regains the team’s trust, what his market will be like, and whether he’ll be able to top his $27.6MM player option.
- Andrew Wiggins is also extension-eligible, and Slater believes the Warriors would be interested in exploring a new deal if the former No. 1 pick is willing to take a slight pay cut (perhaps from his current $33.6MM into the 20s). But it’s unclear whether Wiggins would consider that as he comes off his best NBA season.
- Slater believes Moses Moody is a better bet than Jonathan Kuminga or Patrick Baldwin Jr. to step into a rotation role immediately this season, since he’s a good fit for a three-and-D spot. While the Warriors like Baldwin’s long-term potential, Slater expects him to spend a lot of time in the G League as a rookie.
- The Warriors allowed their veterans to take on a major role in the handling of the Green/Poole altercation last week, according to Slater, who points to Stephen Curry, Kevon Looney, and Andre Iguodala as players who were very involved. “The players are of the belief that it’s better for the team to bring Draymond back in now,” Slater said.
Warriors Notes: Green, Poole, Looney, Iguodala, Wiseman
It feels like “the clock is ticking down” on the relationship between the Warriors and Draymond Green, according to Tim Kawakami of The Athletic, who likens the situation to the start of the “accommodation stage in a turbulent but prosperous marriage,” with the strains becoming increasingly visible.
In Kawakami’s view, it seems safe to assume that Green’s future with the Warriors beyond the 2022/23 season is very much up in the air, since team executives already weren’t 100% sure about a lucrative new commitment to Green even before he punched teammate Jordan Poole in a practice last week.
Both sides need one another for now, since the Warriors probably can’t realistically win another title this season without Green, but the latest misstep by the former Defensive Player of the Year is a sign that a divorce is probably coming at some point, Kawakami writes.
Here’s more on the Warriors:
- The Warriors may have been more inclined to suspend Draymond Green for his actions if they weren’t receiving their championship rings on opening night of the regular season, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski stated during a TV appearance (video link via ClutchPoints). “If this incident had landed in the middle of the regular season, there’d probably be a suspension. If the Warriors weren’t defending champions and were just playing an ordinary opening night, there might very well be a suspension,” Wojnarowski said. “Golden State did not want to punish Draymond Green in a way where he’d miss opening night where he’d get his fourth ring with the Warriors.”
- Jordan Poole is the only reason the Warriors’ championship defense isn’t “in tatters,” according to Sam Amick of The Athletic, who lauds the fourth-year guard for the role he has played in the team’s efforts to mend fences.
- Head coach Steve Kerr praised Kevon Looney, whom he called the team’s “moral compass” – for the role he played in helping the Warriors navigate the Green incident. “He’s a special human being. Special,” Kerr said, per Marcus Thompson II of The Athletic. “And he was a key instrument in everything that we’ve had going the last week to try to get things back on track.”
- Andre Iguodala still hadn’t scrimmaged as of Tuesday night and won’t be active when the Warriors begin their season next week vs. the Lakers, according to Kerr (Twitter link via Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area).
- It has been 18 months since James Wiseman, who suffered a meniscus tear in April 2021, last played in a regular season NBA game. Kendra Andrews of ESPN takes a look at how Wiseman pushed through that long, challenging rehab process – which included multiple setbacks – to get back on the court this fall.
Draymond Green Fined, Will Return To Warriors On Thursday
The Warriors have opted to fine, but not suspend, forward/center Draymond Green for punching teammate Jordan Poole in a practice last Wednesday, head coach Steve Kerr told reporters on Tuesday night. As Kendra Andrews of ESPN writes, Kerr also said that Green, who has been away from the team since the altercation, will rejoin the club on Thursday.
Kerr acknowledged that the Warriors may face criticism for their decision not to suspend Green, but explained that the team made the decision it felt was best after a series of internal discussions involving players, coaches, and executives.
Poole was among the players consulted during the decision-making process, meeting with Kerr and the front office multiple times, and also meeting with Green, as Andrews relays. The fourth-year guard was “willing to get back out on the floor with Draymond and go to work,” according to Kerr.
“This is the biggest crisis that we’ve had since I’ve been the coach here,” Kerr said. “It’s really serious stuff. We’re not perfect. … But we’re going to lean on the experience that we have together and trust that this is the best decision for our team. We have a lot of work to do. All of us.”
Warriors head of basketball operations Bob Myers first said last Thursday that he didn’t think Green would be suspended, but it was unclear if the club intended to stick to that plan after TMZ published video of the punch on Friday.
Green, who privately apologized to Poole and the team on Thursday, reiterated that apology publicly on Saturday, announcing at that time that he would step away from the Warriors for at least a few days and admitting that he had work to do to regain the trust of his teammates and the organization.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Kerr expressed confidence that Green will be able to mend the necessary fences, but said he’ll be keeping a close eye on how the team’s young players look at the former Defensive Player of the Year, according to Andrews. Some of those players are newcomers and don’t have a preexisting relationship with Green.
“There is no way around it: (Our) culture has been damaged by this incident,” Kerr said. “You have to work to repair that. … (Green) broke our trust, but I am giving him the benefit of the doubt because I think he’s earned that.”
The expectation is that Green will play in Golden State’s preseason finale vs. Denver on Friday and will be available for the team’s regular season opener next Tuesday vs. the Lakers.
Latest On Draymond Green
The Warriors have plenty of reasons to be skeptical about Draymond Green despite the contrition he showed during today’s apology, writes Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the punch that felled teammate Jordan Poole at Wednesday’s practice, Green apologized to Poole and his teammates, along with Poole’s family and his own family during a nearly 40-minute session with the media.
Green called himself “a flawed human being” and pledged to work on his shortcomings. He will spend some time away from the team, and it hasn’t been decided if he’ll return for the regular season opener October 18.
“You apologize with words,” he said. “But, ultimately, your actions show your apologies. I’ve apologized with my words to my team and to Jordan. And now I will allow my actions to show my apology.”
Although Green said all the right things, Monte Poole notes that it’s the latest in a string of troubling incidents. Green tried to attack coach Steve Kerr during halftime of a 2016 game at Oklahoma City, he got suspended for Game 6 of that year’s NBA Finals after hitting LeBron James and he had a heated on-court argument with Kevin Durant while they were teammates in 2018.
Kerr, who has witnessed all of Green’s bad behavior, seemed to express doubt over the apology, Poole adds. When asked whether Green had compromised his trust with the team, Kerr responded, “no comment,” and when a follow-up question addressed whether Green would be ready to rejoin the lineup after missing most of the preseason, Kerr only said, “speculation.”
There’s more on the Green situation:
- Kerr was angry that video of Green’s punch was leaked to TMZ, telling reporters that he’s seen similar incidents during his three decades in the NBA and it’s best if they’re handled internally, Poole tweets. “It’s just so much cleaner and smoother and you can move forward,” Kerr said. “As soon as things are leaked, you know, now all hell breaks loose and that affects every single player, coach, but especially the players and because of that, because everything is out there, the players are now having to deal with all of this stuff.”
- Kerr explained that it was a “mutual” decision to keep Green away from the team for a while and it was made after discussions involving Green and team leaders, Marc Stein tweets.
- Making things right with Jordan Poole should be the Warriors’ priority moving forward, argues Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. The 23-year-old guard is a vital part of the organization’s future, and through October 17 he’s eligible for a rookie scale extension that could pay him upward of $30MM per season. If Poole no longer feels comfortable after what happened Wednesday, that could force Golden State to start exploring the trade market for Green, Kawakami adds.
- Rival executives and agents don’t expect the Warriors to try to move Green in response to the punch, according to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report. Pincus also talked to sources close to Green, who believe that he and the team will be able to move past the incident.
Draymond Green To Spend Some Time Away From Warriors
Addressing the media on Saturday for the first time since punching Jordan Poole in a Wednesday practice, Warriors forward/center Draymond Green said he intends to step away from the team for a few days to get his mind right and to allow the club to heal, tweets Kendra Andrews of ESPN.
Green said he’s not sure exactly how long he’ll be away from the Warriors, adding that the team still has to decide whether or not he’ll be permitted to play in the regular season opener later this month.
“I expect to play,” Green said (Twitter link via Mark Medina of NBA.com). “But will I play? That is a completely different story and something we will figure out.“
Green, who already reportedly apologized privately to Poole and his teammates for the incident, reiterated that apology publicly during his session with reporters on Saturday. According to Green, he also apologized to his own family and to Poole’s family for the embarrassment that his actions caused (Twitter links via Mark Medina of NBA.com).
Referring to himself as a “flawed human being,” Green said he was in a bad mental space on Wednesday due to some issues in his personal life, but admitted that was no excuse and said he needs to do some work on himself. He declined to offer any additional details about why he escalated the altercation with Poole, explaining that doing so would be a “sympathy tactic” (Twitter links via Melissa Rohlin of FOX Sports).
Responding to rumors that his and Poole’s contract situations played a part in the altercation (both players are entering potential contract years and are extension-eligible), Green vehemently denied that, telling reporters it had “absolutely” nothing to do with contracts and insisting that he doesn’t “count other people’s pockets” (Twitter link via Medina).
According to Green, he has taken Poole under his wing since the guard arrived in Golden State in 2019 and the two teammates have had a good relationship, but he’s not sure where things stand now. While Green – who acknowledged that he’ll have to regain the trust of Poole and the rest of the Warriors – said he thinks his apology was accepted by the team, he’s unsure how Poole took it and wants to give him some space (Twitter links via Rohlin and Medina).
“Jordan’s feelings are most important. to be honest, I don’t know how he really feels,” Green said (Twitter links via Medina). “That’s not a bridge we really crossed yet, nor should it be a bridge we should cross yet.
“… I love Jordan Poole. That’s my guy. I will still ride for Jordan, still advocate for Jordan and do anything I can to make Jordan’s job easy.”
As for the fact that video of the punch surfaced two days after the practice in question, Green expressed displeasure about the leak, but conceded that he watched the video “15 times, maybe more,” and that it looks “even worse” than he thought (Twitter links via Medina and Andrews).
“What I did was wrong, regardless of the video leaking,” Green said.