Ja Morant ranks slightly higher on the Knicks’ board, but the team will be content to stay put at No. 3 and take Barrett if that’s how the draft works out, a source tells Berman.
There’s more from New York on the eve of the draft:
Here are today’s G League assignments and recalls from around the NBA:
Russell Westbrook capped off his best month since joining the Rockets with a 41-point performance Saturday in Boston, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN. Westbrook averaged 33.7 PPG in February, marking the second-best scoring month of his career. He’s also displaying efficiency that wasn’t part of his game earlier in the season. Westbrook, who took just two of his 27 shots last night from beyond the arc, posted a 54.9% shooting percentage during the month.
“Right now, I think I’m moving in the right direction,” he said. “I’ve just got to stay locked in with what I’m doing, with my craft and what I’ve been doing since I’ve been in the league.”
The improvement in Westbrook’s game has accompanied Houston’s decision to fully commit to a small-ball approach. The decision to trade starting center Clint Capela has spaced the floor and made it easier for Westbrook to get to the basket.
“One thing he can do and one thing he’s great at is driving to the rim,” teammate Jeff Green said. “When you’re spacing the floor and you’re taking (defenders) out the middle, you’re allowing him to access the lane whenever you want. You’re playing right into his hands.”
There’s more NBA news from Texas:
Here are Sunday’s assignments and recalls from around the NBA G League:
Here are Friday’s G League assignments and recalls from around the league:
Every night during the NBA G League season, Hoops Rumors provides the assignments and recalls for each team. With training camps now open, here are Wednesday’s assignments and recalls from around the G League:
The Spurs signed both of their first-round selections, forward Luka Samanic and swingman Keldon Johnson, to rookie contracts, according to team press releases.
Assuming they received the max of 120 percent of the rookie scale, Samanic will make $2.69MM in his rookie year, ascending to 2.82MM and 2.959MM in the next two seasons. Johnson will get $1.95MM in the upcoming season and $2.05MM and $2.146MM in his second and third years.
Samanic was the 19th overall pick. The 6’10” Samanic spent last season with KK Olimpija in the Slovenian League, averaging 10.1 PPG and 5.9 RPG in 20.7 MPG over 17 games. The 19-year-old also saw action in 12 games in the FIBA Champions League, posting averages of 8.2 PPG and 5.0 RPG in 19.4 MPG.
Johnson was chosen with the No. 29 pick, which was acquired from Toronto as part of the Kawhi Leonard trade. The 6’6” Johnson averaged 13.5 PPG, 5.9 RPG and 1.6 APG in 30.7 MPG while playing 37 games for Kentucky last season.
Both will play on the Spurs’ summer league teams in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas.
After re-adjusting the Anthony Davis trade, the Lakers find themselves with approximately $32MM to spend in free agency. With Kawhi Leonard, Kyrie Irving and others available, Los Angeles figures to use the newfound space to pursue one of those premier players.
Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus examined how the team may approach free agency with $32MM at their disposal. Pincus labeled Leonard as the only player who may be worth the sizable investment for the Lakers. Otherwise, the team would be better off spreading the available money around to create a more balanced roster.
Among Pincus’ breakdown includes hypothetical deals – mimicking the 2017 Heat’s trick of signing several players to unlikely incentives – for D’Angelo Russell and a slew of veterans. Whichever way the Lakers elect to go, Pincus notes that pursuit, and possible acquisition of Leonard, remains a realistic outcome.
Check out more Western Conference notes below:
Family considerations are part of the reason R.J. Barrett wants to be drafted by the Knicks tomorrow, relays Marc Berman of The New York Post. At a press conference today, Barrett explained that his grandfather was a huge Knicks fan, his mother is from Brooklyn and his father played at St. John’s.
It appears Barrett will get his wish, unless someone leapfrogs New York and makes a deal with Memphis for the No. 2 pick. He has turned down requests for a workout with the Grizzlies, saying he prefers to play for the Knicks.
“My agent and I and my parents, we just decided not to (work out for Memphis),’’ Barrett said. “Not really anything wrong with Memphis. New York is just more where I wanted to be.”
Ja Morant ranks slightly higher on the Knicks’ board, but the team will be content to stay put at No. 3 and take Barrett if that’s how the draft works out, a source tells Berman.
There’s more from New York on the eve of the draft:
Although they brought in Vanderbilt point guard Darius Garland for a last-minute workout today, the Knicks remain locked in on selecting Duke forward R.J. Barrett with the No. 3 overall pick, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).
With just over 24 hours to go until the 2019 NBA draft, rumors continue to trickle in about which prospects other teams might be targeting with their first-round picks. Jeremy Woo and Jake Fischer of SI.com suggest that league sources believe the Celtics – who hold Nos. 14, 20, and 22 – have serious interest in Kentucky sharpshooter Tyler Herro. The SI duo also reports that the Spurs – who pick at 19 and 29 – are among the teams with real interest in Croatian forward Luka Samanic.
Woo and Fischer share a few more tidbits in their latest mock draft, writing that the Hornets, Heat, and Celtics are all showing “a degree of interest” in USC’s Kevin Porter Jr., who could be in play to come off the board near the end of the lottery.
League sources also tell SI.com that the Magic have put the No. 46 pick on the trade block and could sell it, with the Lakers, Wizards, and Trail Blazers among the teams believed to have interest in purchasing a second-rounder.
Here’s more on the draft:
Chris Crouse contributed to this post.
The Trail Blazers, who hold just one pick – No. 25 overall – in this year’s draft, brought in a total of 24 prospects for workouts, according to Casey Holdahl of Blazers.com.
In addition to the 12 prospects whose names we previously relayed, the Trail Blazers also brought in David Crisp (Washington), Matur Maker (Slovenia), KZ Okpala (Stanford), Samir Sehic (Tulane), Jaylin Walker (Kent State), Cameron Young (Quinnipiac), Vic Law (Northwestern), Ignas Brazdeikis (Michigan), Talen Horton-Tucker (Iowa State), Louis King (Oregon), Admiral Schofield (Tennessee), Rayjon Tucker (Little Rock) over the last week.
Not all of those players are candidates to be selected 25th overall, so the Trail Blazers were also doing their homework on potential undrafted free agent signings — or possibly even second-round picks, if Portland opts to trade back into the draft.
Here are a few more draft-related notes and rumors worth rounding up: