Etan Thomas

Wizards Notes: Horford, Mahinmi, Smith, BIG3

Boston’s Al Horford could have been in the visiting locker room as the Eastern Conference semifinals get under way this afternoon, writes J. Michael of CSNMidAtlantic. Before signing a four-year, $113MM deal with the Celtics last summer, Horford narrowed his list to three finalists that also included the Wizards and Rockets. Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld and VP of basketball operations Tommy Sheppard flew to Atlanta to make a personalized pitch to Horford. Point guard John Wall also joined in the recruiting process.

“Me and him had a great conversation,” Wall recalled. “He told me it was down to [us], them and I think Houston. He made his final decision after that, you’ve got to move on. It would’ve been great to have him on our team, but he’s with the Celtics. They had a great season this year. He had a heck of a season and we’re competing against him now so all that texting, all we had is out the window.” 

There’s more today out of Washington:

  • The Wizards have announced that back-up center Ian Mahinmi won’t be available for today’s game (Twitter link). That isn’t suprising, Michael tweets, because Mahinmi hasn’t gone through a full practice since straining his left calf two weeks ago. He has ramped up his individual workouts over the past week, but isn’t ready for game action. Mahinmi played just 31 regular season games after signing a four-year, $64MM deal last offseason, as knee problems limited him to just five games before the All-Star break.
  • There’s better news about reserve big man Jason Smith, tweets Candace Buckner of The Washington Post. Coach Scott Brooks said Smith will be ready for today’s game. He has been dealing with a left calf strain, but played 11 minutes in Friday’s closeout game against the Hawks.
  • Four former Wizards players are hoping to be part of the BIG3 league this summer, relays CSNMidAtlantic. Etan Thomas tweeted Saturday that he was at the league’s draft combine along with DeShawn Stevenson, Kwame Brown and Michael Ruffin. The new league, which features three-on-three competition among former NBA players, will hold its draft today in Las Vegas.

Kenny Anderson, Jamario Moon Among Additions To BIG3

Five players have been announced as additions to the BIG3 league, President & Commissioner Roger Mason Jr. announced in a press release. Former Slam Dunk Contest participant Jamario Moon will join the league, as will Kenny Anderson, Etan Thomas, Ruben Patterson, and Smush Parker.

“There has been an outpouring of interest from our professional basketball community. We are so excited to bring quality players to the draft. We are building something special with this league. A league for the players, by the players,” Mason Jr. said.

BIG3’s talent pool has come together nicely since its January 11 inception, as NBA legends Allen Iverson, Jermaine O’Neal, Jason Williams, and more are set to resume their careers in a 3-on-3 format. While the league has scooped up players with recent NBA experience, Hall-of-Famers George Gervin and Clyde Drexler will serve crucial roles as coaches and ambassadors of the league.

Renounced Players: Wednesday

As teams clear cap space to finalize signings and trades, it may mean renouncing Early Bird or Bird rights to their own free agents, in order to remove cap holds from the books. Once a player is renounced, his previous team has no more claim to him that any other team — he could still be re-signed, but it would have to be done using cap space or an exception. Some of those decisions are more notable than others, but for completion's sake, we'll track the latest of these cap-clearing moves right here:

Earlier updates:

 

Latest On Discord In Players Union

The turmoil among NBPA leadership continues to dominate headlines as the Association hopes to turn the focus to its postseason, which will get underway this weekend. Here are today's updates on the conflict involving Derek Fisher, Billy Hunter, and the NBA players union, with the latest up top:

  • A lengthy Yahoo! Sports investigation delves deep into how exactly Hunter's relatives are connected to the players union. Adrian Wojnarowski and Rand Getlin report that the NBPA executive director sought a $7MM+ investment from the union for a bank with ties to his son.
  • The union's executive committee sent out a memo to player representatives that depicted union president Fisher as a "rogue leader who has been deliquent in his duties since the end of the lockout," reports Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. The memo says the executive committee has become "increasingly concerned" by Fisher's actions and presents a timeline of events that led them to call for Fisher's resignation.
  • Hunter defended himself against accusations of nepotism, telling Howard Beck of the New York Times that "there's nothing illegal" about a payroll that includes a number of Hunter's relatives, who he says are highly qualified for their positions.
  • At the Huffington Post, Etan Thomas, a member of the executive committee, wrote an open letter to Hunter and Fisher calling out both men for their recent actions and imploring Fisher to resign.