Kevin Durant Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Clippers Keeping Close Eye On Kawhi, Durant

December 12th, 2018 at 7:57am CST by Luke Adams

The Clippers are “transparently obsessed” with chasing 2019’s top two free agents, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, who writes that the franchise has treated Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant like college recruits, frequently sending executives to Raptors and Warriors contests this season to scout the stars and ensure that the Clips are visible at those games.

Raptors officials have noticed at least one Clippers employee at about three-quarters of their games this season, per Windhorst. President of basketball operations Lawrence Frank has been among those Clippers employees spotted at Toronto’s contests, even though top execs rarely attend NBA games that don’t involve their teams.

As Windhorst details, the approach appears to be part of team owner Steve Ballmer‘s master plan. In Ballmer’s perfect world, the Clippers would land Leonard or Durant – or both – during the 2019 offseason, making them the face(s) of the franchise as the team prepares to eventually move into a new arena in Inglewood. Ballmer alluded to this plan on Tuesday, as Bill Plaschke of The Los Angeles Times relays.

“We’re just stacking it up,” Ballmer said. “We’re stacking it up with Jerry [West], stacking up with Lawrence, stacking it up with Doc [Rivers], stacking it up with a new arena. We’re headhunting in a place where this team has not been before.”

The Raptors and Warriors will hold the Bird rights for Leonard and Durant, respectively, allowing them to offer more years and more money to their stars than any other suitor could put on the table. Still, the Clippers are in position to make a strong pitch to both players — L.A. should have the cap flexibility to create two maximum-salary slots, and has added a veteran executive in West – as well as former SI.com scribe Lee Jenkins – to its front office “in an effort to prepare a grand slam pitch when the time is right,” writes Windhorst.

While it remains to be seen whether the Clippers will be successful in their efforts to add a star, they may have another prime opportunity to continue their scouting efforts on Wednesday night, with the Raptors in Golden State to face the Dubs. Leonard is day-to-day with a sore hip, though Toronto had no problem thrashing the Clippers in L.A. on Tuesday night without him.

Pacific Notes: Durant, Green, Ariza, Fultz

December 11th, 2018 at 10:51am CST by Arthur Hill

Everything appears to be back to normal with the Warriors after last month’s altercation between Kevin Durant and Draymond Green, writes Shams Charania of The Athletic. Green returned from a sprained right toe last night, giving the team a healthy lineup for the first time in weeks, not counting free agent addition DeMarcus Cousins, who is still recovering from an Achilles injury. The Warriors have climbed back near the top spot in the West with a 19-9 record and looked poised to re-establish themselves as the league’s best team.

More importantly, any fears that disharmony might tear the team apart seem to have passed. Warriors officials gave Durant “plenty of space” after the Nov. 12 incident and the situation appears to have been resolved.

“People I lean on told me to stay centerfield with my thoughts and my feelings,” Durant said. “I received so many people reaching out; my former coaches saying to stay centered, stay measured, stay pushing forward and keeping my foot on the gas. At that time, we were losing games, and people were banged up, so it’s easy to go the other way when you’re searching for answers. It was about staying positive and going to work.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

Green, who missed nearly a month of action, was often frustrated as the Warriors‘ medical staff opted to be cautious with his injury, but he tells Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports that it was the right decision. “Overall, it was good for me not to rush it,” Green said. “I was starting to question the plan, but I tried it my way the first time and came back premature. I forced myself to trust their expertise because the main goal was getting me back healthy.”
The Lakers are trying to work out a three-team trade to acquire Trevor Ariza from the Suns, and Bryan Kalbrosky of HoopsHype believes he would be a valuable addition in L.A. In addition to his defense and 3-point shooting, Ariza is one of the league’s best players at finishing in transition. He averaged 1.31 points per possession in transition with the Rockets last season, placing him ninth among players with at least 100 transition possessions.
There has been speculation that the Suns might be willing to take a chance on Markelle Fultz, but John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 doesn’t expect it to happen (Twitter link). He states that Phoenix has no interest in taking on “any issues” that the second-year Sixers guard has.

Warriors Rumors: Jones, Cousins, Green, Livingston

December 7th, 2018 at 1:02pm CST by Luke Adams

The Warriors provided a handful of injury updates on their big men today, starting with the official announcement that Damian Jones has undergone pectoral surgery. While Jones will be able to start rehabbing in six weeks, he’s likely to be sidelined for five or six months, head coach Steve Kerr said today (Twitter link via Nick Friedell of ESPN.com). That could put him on track to return during the postseason.

Meanwhile, DeMarcus Cousins is expected to head to Santa Cruz sometime this month to practice with the Warriors’ G League affiliate, according to Kerr (Twitter link via Connor Letourneau of The San Francisco Chronicle). Cousins could even play in a couple games for the Santa Cruz Warriors before making his debut for Golden State, which is expected to happen after Christmas.

In the short term, Draymond Green went through shootaround and is pushing to play for the Warriors tonight against Milwaukee, per Kerr (Twitter link via Friedell). While they’ll see how he looks in warmups before making a decision, it sounds like the Dubs will continue playing it safe with Green, who is coming back from a toe injury. He’ll likely sit out at least one more game.

Here’s more on the Warriors:

Kerr said today that the Warriors won’t use their open roster spot to add anyone for now, since they want to see how the club looks when healthy – Cousins included – before making any decisions (Twitter link via Anthony Slater of The Athletic).
Veteran guard Shaun Livingston isn’t sure exactly when he’ll call it a career, but tells Spencer Davies of Basketball Insiders that his retirement probably isn’t too far down the road. “I mean, honestly who knows?” Livingston said. “A year, couple years? But I mean, it’s coming sooner than later. Handwriting is on the wall.” Andre Iguodala recently expressed a similar sentiment on his own career, though he’s nearly two years older than his longtime teammate.
In a conversation with Sam Amick of The Athletic, David West admitted that he has second-guessed his decision to retire once. It happened when he was watching Draymond Green and Kevin Durant have their shouting match at the end of that infamous game against the Clippers last month — West felt that his presence in that moment would have prevented the incident from escalating.
Speaking of the Green/Durant dynamic, Warriors general manager Bob Myers weighed in on that subject during a radio appearance on 95.7 The Game, as Drew Shiller of NBC Sports Bay Area relays. “I really think it’s behind us. I really do,” Myers said of the friction between the two All-Stars. “You have to flush it out, you have to get it all out there — get all your emotions out. There’s a healing part of it — you don’t get over it in 30 seconds — but you do get over it. And I honestly think they have.”

Kevin Durant Discusses Seattle, Interest In Owning NBA Team

December 6th, 2018 at 8:48am CST by Luke Adams

After suggesting back in October that he’d love to see the city of Seattle get an NBA team again, Kevin Durant went a step further on Wednesday, suggesting that it’d be a “great story” if he could be involved in the ownership of a Seattle franchise someday, as Nick Friedell of ESPN.com relays.

“Hell yeah,” Durant told Friedell when asked if he’d be interested in being part of an ownership group for a Seattle team. “Of course I would. No matter if it’s Seattle or any team, just to help young men grow. Or help men in the next phase of their lives as basketball players. Why not? Especially somebody who’s gone through it and been through just about everything as an NBA player, outside of getting traded, I’ve been through pretty much everything. I would love to give back to an organization, the knowledge that I’ve gained. So hell yeah I’d be interested.”

The NHL officially confirmed this week that it will launch a franchise in Seattle for the 2021/22 season, but an NBA return to the city still doesn’t appear to be on the table. As we detailed on Wednesday, most people around the NBA don’t expect the league to seriously consider the possibility of expansion for at least another five to seven years.

Nonetheless, Durant – who has expressed a desire in the past to get into NBA team ownership once his playing career is over – is hopeful that the city where he started his career will eventually get the SuperSonics back. And he’d like to be involved in that process, even as he acknowledges that it would be a huge challenge.

“It’s just the fact that I played there and I get so much love there,” Durant told Friedell. “More than any city in the league probably. Look, it would be a great story. But it would be a lot of hard work, it won’t be easy because it’s Seattle. After the press release and the first couple of weeks it’s straight to work.

“I know people want to tie me into Seattle a lot, and I love being part of that, but I’m not just waiting for that opportunity,” Durant continued. “Any opportunity that comes around where I could become [part of] an ownership group or a front office or anywhere I could just help the team as of right now in my life I would go for it, but who knows what will happen at the end of my career?”

Pacific Notes: LeBron, Durant, Suns, Shumpert

December 5th, 2018 at 2:07pm CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers will have the cap room to pursue a second star in free agency during the summer of 2019, but it remains to be seen whether any of next year’s truly elite free agents will jump at the chance to play with LeBron James, writes Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report. As Kevin Durant, 2019’s top free agent, tells Bucher, it’s probably easier for role players to fit alongside LeBron than it would be for another star.

“It depends on what kind of player you are,” Durant said. “If you’re Kyle Korver, then it makes sense. Because Kyle Korver in Atlanta was the bulk of the offense, and he’s not a No. 1 option at all, not even close. So his talents benefit more from a guy who can pass and penetrate and get him open.

“If you’re a younger player like a Kawhi [Leonard], trying to pair him with LeBron James doesn’t really make sense,” Durant continued. “Kawhi enjoys having the ball in his hands, controlling the offense, dictating the tempo with his post-ups; it’s how he plays the game. A lot of young players are developing that skill. They don’t need another guy.”

Veteran forward Trevor Ariza, who also spoke to Bucher, essentially expressed the same sentiment as Durant, noting that players who could benefit most from LeBron’s ball-dominant play-making would likely be more inclined to join the Lakers than a star who wants to be dominating the ball himself.

“If I was a free agent, I would have to consider everything,” Ariza said. “But my role is different than [Paul George] and Kawhi. They ask them to do different things than they ask of me. Guys similar to [LeBron], why would they want to play with somebody who does all the same things? I can see why they would want to play elsewhere.”

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

In other Lakers news, Joe Vardon of The Athletic outlines why LeBron is unlikely to start deferring to the team’s young, unproven players anytime soon, while head coach Luke Walton says he thinks the franchise is capable of winning a championship without acquiring a second star (Twitter link via Tania Ganguli of The Los Angeles Times).
Within an in-depth look at the Suns‘ point guard options, Bob Young of The Athletic reports that the team nearly traded up in the 2018 draft using the extra first-round pick it owns from the Bucks, and would’ve selected Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in that scenario. However, owner Robert Sarver pushed instead for the deal that saw the Suns give up Miami’s 2021 first-rounder for Mikal Bridges, according to Young.
Iman Shumpert, who looked like an expendable veteran on an expiring contract coming into the season, has been a key part of the Kings‘ rotation and is having on positive impact on Sacramento’s young players, writes James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area.

Clippers Rumors: Beverley, Durant, Butler, Harris

December 4th, 2018 at 2:06pm CST by Luke Adams

Back in July, we heard that Tobias Harris turned down a four-year extension offer from the Clippers. According to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News, Harris wasn’t the only player with whom the Clippers discussed a contract extension this year. Deveney hears from a source that the team also spoke to guard Patrick Beverley about a new deal, despite the fact that he was still rehabbing from knee surgery at the time. Beverley decided to play out the final season of his contract instead.

Beverley, who is earning just over $5MM this season, would have been eligible for an extension worth up to about $47.5MM over four years, though the Clippers almost certainly offered less than that. I’d guess Los Angeles made an effort to lock up Beverley at a team-friendly rate following his long injury absence, with the 30-year-old betting he could rebuild his value in advance of his 2019 free agency.

Here’s more from out of Los Angeles:

The Clippers are keeping a close eye on Kevin Durant‘s situation in Golden State, and have every intention of making a pitch to Durant in free agency next summer, Deveney reports. Deveney suggests that Durant seems likely to hear out the Clips, though with his free agency still seven months away, it’s hard to get a sense at this point of what the process will look like.
The Clippers made “no significant push” to acquire Jimmy Butler when the Timberwolves were shopping him earlier this fall, sources tell Deveney. As we heard during that saga, the Clips were strongly opposed to including Tobias Harris in a package for Butler, and that stance has paid off so far — Harris, who leads L.A. in PPG (21.6) and RPG (8.4), has been the club’s best player this season.
Patrick Beverley was fined $25K by the NBA for throwing the ball at a spectator on Sunday, the league announced today in a press release.

Woj: Nets Have Price In Mind For Spencer Dinwiddie

December 1st, 2018 at 10:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Nets would “very much like to keep” guard Spencer Dinwiddie, but only at the right price, ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski said today in an interview with Fordham’s student radio station (hat tip to NetsDaily).

Wojnarowski wouldn’t speculate on how much Brooklyn’s front office is willing to give Dinwiddie, but it’s obviously less than the four-year, $47.5MM extension he’s eligible to receive starting next Saturday. The Nets have until the end of June to finalize an extension with Dinwiddie, who is currently making the league minimum. He will become a free agent July 1 if no deal is in place by then.

“I think the Nets would very much like to keep him and keep him long term but again, it’s negotiation,” Wojnarowski said. “It will be at a number — I don’t know what the number is for Brooklyn — but I’m sure they have in their minds a sense of what they’re willing to do and then how does that measure up to what the other options are, what it does to their cap space, what they want to do with D’Angelo Russell.”

Dinwiddie is having a career year in a reserve role, averaging 15.9 PPG and shooting 37% from 3-point range. Wojnarowski believes there will be a strong market for Dinwiddie if he reaches free agency and predicts the Nets will try to re-sign him if they can’t come to terms on an extension.

Wojnarowski touched on a few other topics in the interview, saying:

The Nets are unlikely to trade for an “established player” this season. Management seems content to keep the current core in place and try to make additions through free agency.
The Knicks seem like a long shot to land Kevin Durant because they don’t have a strong foundation already in place. He noted that elite free agents have historically gone to teams that are already equipped to contend for a title.
The Wizards would demand a high price if they elect to trade Bradley Beal. However, they may have to take on a long-term contract to unload the $81MM they still owe to Otto Porter.
Nothing is expected to happen with Sixers guard Markelle Fultz until “more clarity” is obtained on his physical condition.

Pacific Notes: Bridges, Kings, Green, Durant

November 21st, 2018 at 11:11pm CST by Arthur Hill

A draft night trade that sent Mikal Bridges from the Sixers to the Suns gave the rookie a better chance to excel than he would have had in Philadelphia, writes Sarah Todd of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Bridges, who was in the starting lineup when the teams met Monday, has been playing roughly 20 minutes per game in Phoenix and averaging 8.0 points per night.

The draft was briefly a dream come true for Bridges, who grew up in Philadelphia and played at Villanova. But after the Sixers selected him with the 10th pick, they accepted an offer from the Suns that gave them 16th pick Zhaire Smith and an unprotected first-rounder in 2021.

“He’s starting to feel good about the situation, he’s playing more, he’s having more success,” said Jack Bridges, Mikal’s father. “At the end of the day, he just wants to win.”

There’s more tonight from the Pacific Division:

The Kings have been able to block out distractions on their way to a 10-8 start, even a weekend report that coach Dave Joerger’s job was in jeopardy because of a dispute with management over playing time for younger players, relays Jason Jones of The Athletic. Although turmoil has defined the organization over the past decade, this new crop of Kings seems to be able to ignore negative influences. “We’re not worried about any of that stuff outside the locker room,” Willie Cauley-Stein said. “We’re just worried about our guys, developing our guys and everybody just leveling up. For us, the business side of this, we can’t control none of that, we don’t care about none of that at the end of the day. We want to get get better, we want to win ball games.”
Draymond Green is reasserting himself as a leader in the Warriors‘ locker room after last week’s altercation with Kevin Durant, says Shams Charania of The Athletic in a Twitter video. Green addressed the team following Sunday’s loss in San Antonio, emphasizing the need to regroup and pointing out areas that need to be worked on. Charania adds that the Warriors remain confident that things will be fine once Stephen Curry returns from his injury.
Durant was fined $25K for a profane comment he made to a fan during Saturday’s Warriors game in Dallas, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.

Warriors Believed Team Chemistry Was At Stake After Draymond Green Altercation

November 21st, 2018 at 3:13pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Warriors winning their third straight title seems much less likely now than it did prior to the season. Golden State’s appears mortal on the court and off the court, there’s plenty to be concerned about even if Kevin Durant claims the tiff with Draymond Green won’t impact his long-term decision making.

The team suspended Green for the altercation and according to Tim Kawakami of The Athletic, both coach Steve Kerr and GM Bob Myers believed that the chemistry of the entire team was at stake. They wanted to make sure the situation didn’t develop into a series of “personal grievances and lingering resentments,” Kawakami writes. The suspension was handed down to prevent Green from dictating the mood and terms for the remainder of the season into the offseason.

Team management was upset that the move was viewed as the organization picking Durant over Green. While it’s easy to look at it that way, the decision to suspend Green had more to do with making sure the chemistry of the team would remain repairable.

If Durant leaves, the Warriors want it to be because it was his own choice and not because another player was barking at him.

Durant: Green Incident Won’t Affect Free Agency Decision

November 21st, 2018 at 8:33am CST by Luke Adams

More than a week after his much–discussed on-court confrontation with Draymond Green took place in Los Angeles, Kevin Durant tells Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports that he’s ready to move on from that incident, adding that it will have no bearing on his free agency decision during the summer of 2019.

“Nah, [it won’t factor],” Durant said on Tuesday. “Because at the end of the day, I’m just a ballplayer that’s just trying to be in a great environment to play basketball and groom my skills every day. And I want to compete on a level that once the game starts, I’m just totally comfortable with my surroundings, with just going out there and being me.”

Durant spoke at length to Haynes about the aftermath of the altercation, which he says he didn’t consider as serious as everyone else made it out to be. While the two-time Finals MVP admits he was upset in the moment, he tells Haynes it didn’t take long to put the whole thing in perspective.

“I was upset, but I know that I can’t hold on to something like this,” Durant said. “I know that I’ve got to make a choice with myself, like how long are you going to be upset about this to the point where you’re going to let it affect what you do on the floor or how you approach the game? Once it gets there now, I got to make a grown-man decision and tell myself, ‘Look, man, no matter what, you still got to come to work every single day. It’s going to work out. It’s going to figure itself out.’ And I think everyone’s been handling it the best way they could and we’re just trying to move forward with it.”

Durant has a player option for 2019/20, but is expected to turn it down to become an unrestricted free agent. He’ll have full Bird rights at that point, meaning he could sign a five-year deal with the Warriors. He could get up to four years from any other team, and several big-market clubs around the NBA expect to have significant cap room, including the Knicks, Nets, Clippers, and Lakers.

There has already been plenty of speculation about Durant’s eventual decision, and last week’s incident only helped to create more “outside” noise, which the star forward suggests has been more frustrating than the confrontation itself.

“It’s always going to come back,” Durant said to Haynes. “Like, ‘Are they all right? Man, he didn’t play well. Is he going to leave?’ Why do I even have to think about that at this point? … Then it turned into, ‘K.D.’s going to this place, he doesn’t like the Warriors no more. He should go here, he should go there.’ More distractions.”