Obi Toppin Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Atlantic Notes: Celtics, Walker, Irving, Toppin

January 14th, 2021 at 1:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

After having three straight games postponed due to coronavirus issues, the Celtics will likely be able to return to the court Friday night, according to Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press. All-Star forward Jayson Tatum will remain sidelined after testing positive last week, but four other players are expected to receive clearance in time for the game against Orlando.

“I don’t think there’s an easy answer here,” coach Brad Stevens said after today’s shootaround, which marked the first time his players have been on the court together since Sunday. “This is a difficult time around the country. This pandemic is as rampant as it’s ever been and obviously we’re feeling some of that despite the great precautions and great steps we’re taking not to.”

The NBA is dealing with its worst stretch of COVID-19 issues since the season began. Nine games have been postponed so far, with eight of those coming this week. The league is considering expanded testing that would provide same-day results on game days.

“We’re like everyone else,” Stevens said. “We appreciate the opportunity to gather. We appreciate the opportunity to be together. We appreciate the opportunity to play the game we love and when it’s taken away for a week or four months that’s hard. And the rest of the world’s dealing with that in every which way, so for us to complain about it … would be insensitive to everything else that’s going on in the world.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Celtics guard Kemba Walker is getting closer to making his season debut, tweets Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe. Stevens said Walker, who has been sidelined by soreness in his left knee, went “full” in today’s session, which was focused on drills.
Just as coach Steve Nash did Wednesday, Nets general manager Sean Marks refused to get into specifics about Kyrie Irving‘s absence during a session with reporters today, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Irving is away from the team for personal reasons and there’s no set date for his return. “I don’t want to speculate and say why he’s out,” Marks said. “I’ve had conversations with him. I’ll continue to have conversations. … You also hope there is a more than adequate excuse as to why he needs personal time. He will address that without a doubt.”
Knicks rookie Obi Toppin returned Wednesday after missing three weeks with a strained left calf, but he only played 57 seconds, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. “I’m super excited to be back,” Toppin said before the game. “I’m a little rusty. But I’ll be ready when Coach calls my name.”
Knicks free agent addition Taj Gibson received a rest-of-season veteran’s minimum contract, Berman adds in the same story.

New York Notes: Durant, Irving, Toppin, Gibson

January 13th, 2021 at 11:01am CST by Luke Adams

Star forward Kevin Durant has yet to play both halves of a back-to-back set this season, as the Nets have made an effort to ease him back into the regular season schedule following his year-long absence due to an Achilles tear.

However, after leading the team to a comeback victory over Denver on Tuesday night, Durant is prepared to play the Knicks in New York tonight, as Brian Lewis of The New York Post details.

“I plan on it,” he said.

As of Tuesday night, head coach Steve Nash wasn’t ready to fully commit to having Durant available on Wednesday, cautioning that the Nets have to “judge these things day-to-day and moment-to-moment.” However, the team listed the two-time Finals MVP as available on its latest injury report today.

Here’s more on the NBA’s two New York teams ahead of their game tonight:

There’s “real concern” around the league from people who know Kyrie Irving about his ongoing absence, says Joe Vardon of The Athletic. The Nets guard, who was spotted on a Zoom call for a Manhattan District Attorney candidate on Tuesday evening, will face a quarantine period when he returns, assuming the NBA finds he violated COVID-19 protocols by attending a large gathering to celebrate a family member’s birthday. Having previously reported that Irving isn’t expected back this week, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (video link) suggests the star guard may not be active next week either.
The Knicks have unexpectedly upgraded Obi Toppin (calf) to probable for Wednesday’s game (Twitter link). The rookie forward said he was just cleared for contact today and hasn’t yet practiced in full, tweets Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. It’s unclear whether or not he’ll actually see much – or any – action tonight, says Marc Berman of The New York Post (Twitter link).
Taj Gibson will be available for the Knicks on Wednesday night, as Berman writes for The New York Post. The recently-signed big man is reportedly in shape, but it remains to be seen whether he’ll play an immediate role.

Knicks Notes: Gibson, Toppin, Ntilikina, Hayward

January 12th, 2021 at 11:53am CST by Luke Adams

The Knicks signed Taj Gibson to a rest-of-season contract last Thursday, according to NBA.com’s official transactions log. However, the veteran big man hasn’t been able to play for the team yet due to COVID-19 protocols, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. It’s possible that Gibson will be able to join the club for Wednesday’s game against Brooklyn, Berman says.

Here’s more on the Knicks:

Obi Toppin (calf) and Frank Ntilikina (knee) aren’t yet close to returning, according to Berman. Toppin hasn’t been cleared for contact, while Ntilikina may not be back at practice until next week.
Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau pushed to sign Gordon Hayward in free agency in November, but the team ultimately felt the price was too high, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. With the Knicks in Charlotte on Monday, Thibodeau acknowledged that Hayward was “rated pretty high on our (free agent) board,” while the Hornets forward said there was “a lot of interest on both sides.”
The Knicks aren’t as good as their 5-3 start suggested, but they seem refreshingly free of dysfunction this season, according to Chris Mannix of SI.com, who says the franchise finally seems to be building the right way with the right people.

Atlantic Notes: Durant, Robinson, Ibaka, Toppin

January 6th, 2021 at 10:13pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Nets coach Steve Nash contends that the schedule for All-Star forward Kevin Durant‘s return from his COVID-19 protocol-necessitated quarantining is a “moving target,” according to Brian Lewis of the New York Post. On Tuesday, Durant commenced his quarantine, per NBA health and safety protocols, after being exposed to someone who tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The belief was that the quarantine would last seven days.

“My understanding is that it is a quarantine, so I don’t think there will be any on-court activity,” Nash said. “There’s negative tests, days from the contact tracing and all sorts of factors that go into it. So, I don’t really have an answer yet on how long.” The Nets crushed the Jazz 130-96 in their first test without Durant.

There’s more out of the Atlantic Division:

Knicks center Mitchell Robinson has been improving his efforts to avoid foul calls, Greg Joyce of the New York Post reports. “It’s actually, like, nobody wants to get yelled at by the coaches, so I’ve been just trying to maintain that the best way that I can,” Robinson said. “I’ve been working on it.” The young big man is averaging 3.0 fouls per game in 29.6 MPG, a marked improvement over his 3.2 fouls in 23.1 MPG during the 2019/20 season.
Raptors president Masai Ujiri and general manager Bobby Webster apparently frustrated free agent center/power forward Serge Ibaka when the club offered him a number below what he was hoping for in an attempt to leave some cap space to re-sign starting center Marc Gasol, according to Michael Grange of Sportsnet. Toronto bumped its one-year offer from $12MM to $14MM, but Ibaka apparently also did not want to continue being a backup to Gasol. Both players wound up departing for cheaper deals with Los Angeles title contenders, and the 1-5 (as of this writing) Raptors appear to be missing the two-way skill set of their championship frontcourt tandem.
Following an evaluation yesterday, Knicks power forward Obi Toppin will begin running and jumping as he continues to rehabilitate from a right calf strain, according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic (Twitter link). After this, Toppin will subsequently move on to on-court workouts. The rookie hurt the calf in the club’s December 23 opening night bout against the Pacers. “He’s making good progress and we just have to be patient,” new head coach Tom Thibodeau said.

Obi Toppin Out 7-10 Days With Strained Calf

December 26th, 2020 at 8:22pm CST by Arthur Hill

Knicks rookie forward Obi Toppin has a strained right calf and will be re-evaluated in seven to 10 days, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Toppin suffered the injury in the team’s first game Wednesday at Indiana, according to Steve Popper of Newsday. Toppin was held out of practice Thursday and didn’t play in tonight’s home opener.

The Knicks were thrilled that Toppin, the reigning Naismith Award winner, was still available with the eighth pick. However, he wasn’t effective in his first regular season game, shooting just 3-of-12 before the injury.

“Yeah, he’s a work in progress,” coach Tom Thibodeau said afterward. “There’s some things he’s doing really well. I think each game he’ll get better and better, each day he’ll get better and better. He’s nicked up a little bit right now, so missing practice. You can’t really do anything in practice, but study and learn and that’s what he’s doing.”

Knicks Notes: Payton, Smith Jr., Noel, Toppin

December 2nd, 2020 at 9:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

Even though he became a free agent when the Knicks turned down his $8MM option, Elfrid Payton was confident he would be returning to New York, writes Marc Berman of The New York Post. Speaking to reporters today via a Zoom call, Payton indicated that he never seriously considered any other team.

“From the beginning we always had intentions of me coming back, so I wasn’t really I guess worried,’’ he said.

Payton was part of a maligned trio of point guards, along with Frank Ntilikina and Dennis Smith Jr., who shared time at the position last season. After listening to offseason speculation that the team would find a replacement through the draft or free agency, Payton believes all three will approach the season with something to prove.

“I feel like we’ve been counted out,’’ he said. “So just go out there and compete and show what we can do. That’s definitely something we want to use as motivation, as if we didn’t already have enough. But that’s definitely something we’ve spoken about in the locker room, even in these short days that we’ve been together.”

There’s more Knicks news to pass along:

Smith is looking forward to a fresh start after a difficult 2019/20 season that began with the death of his stepmother, Berman adds in the same piece. Injuries and poor play limited him to just 34 games and a career-low 15.8 minutes per night. “I would say just understanding that nothing happens to you, it happens for you,’’ Smith said. “And I had to go through a lot of different things mentally — not even physically — mentally I had to go through a lot of different things to kind of understand that. But smooth waters never made (skilled) sailors, so I take it all in stride, and I’m going to keep getting better.’’
Mitchell Robinson may be the team’s center of the future, but he’ll have to compete with free agent addition Nerlens Noel for the starting spot, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News. Regardless of how playing time shakes out, Noel expects to adopt a teaching role. “I just want to mentor him any way possible,” he said. “Whatever position we play throughout the season will play itself out. I want to be a big brother to him and give him a lot of advice throughout the season.”
Lottery pick Obi Toppin is already impressing teammates with his athletic gifts, writes Ian Begley of SNY.TV. The rookie forward has been setting franchise records in agility, conditioning and athleticism drills.

Knicks Notes: Toppin, Randle, Rivers, Quickley

November 28th, 2020 at 8:08pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Knicks are excited about lottery pick Obi Toppin, but there are concerns about his fit alongside Julius Randle, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post. Both are natural power forwards, and many scouts tell Berman that Toppin doesn’t have the versatility to play small forward in the NBA.

“I think best case, they don’t play together that often and you share the 48 power-forward minutes,’’ former NBA scout Bryan Oringher said. “You can get away with each of them as a small-ball 5 for a few minutes a game, but I really don’t think either can play the 3. As centers, they are obviously undersized, and your rim protection will be pretty porous.’’

Randle is headed into the final fully guaranteed year of the contract he signed last summer. He would eat up $4MM in cap space if the Knicks cut him loose before the 2021/22 season, so there’s incentive to trade him before then and let Toppin become the starter at power forward.

There’s more from New York:

The Knicks’ point guard situation may be even more muddled than it was last season, contends Greg Joyce of The New York Post. Elfrid Payton, Frank Ntilikina and Dennis Smith Jr., who shared the job a year ago, are all still with the team, as well as free agent addition Austin Rivers and first-round pick Immanuel Quickley. New York missed out on free agent targets Fred VanVleet and D.J. Augustin.
Rivers’ new deal will pay him $3.5MM this season, $3.3MM is 2021/22 and $3.15MM in 2022/23, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN. The second and third years won’t become guaranteed until seven days after the final day of the moratorium for each season.
In a lengthy interview, Quickley talks to Steve Serby of The New York Post about his experiences at Kentucky and his hopes for the NBA. “My whole life I wasn’t ranked,” Quickley said. “I had just gotten ranked like my junior and senior year. And then I come into Kentucky, people don’t believe that I’m gonna be good enough to be able to … I’m not the quote unquote usual Kentucky player like John Wall or De’Aaron Fox or something like that. But I still came in and had success. And then I think it’s a lot of people that still doubt me coming into the league, don’t think I can play point guard, don’t think I’m strong enough or things like that, so just always trying to prove the doubters wrong and prove myself right.”

Knicks Sign Obi Toppin To Rookie Deal

November 23rd, 2020 at 11:39am CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Knicks have announced (via Twitter) that they have inked their 2020 No. 8 lottery pick Obi Toppin to his rookie contract.

The former Dayton forward will earn $4,862,040 in his rookie year and about $22.1MM over the first four years of his NBA career, unless he accepts a deal worth less than the maximum allowable 120% of the rookie scale. A full list of anticipated rookie scale salary figures is viewable here.

The 22-year-old 6’9″ Brooklyn native played two years for Dayton, averaging 20.0 PPG, 7.5 RPG, and 2.2 APG across 31 games during his sophomore season (all starts). Toppin was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and the National College Player of the Year in 2019/20.

Toppin marks the first draft pick of new Knicks team president Leon Rose, and will join new head coach Tom Thibodeau‘s revamped New York roster for the 2020/21 season. This offseason, the Knicks appear to be mostly in asset-gathering mode, having made two deals to turn Ed Davis into three future second-round picks and having avoided signing big-money free agents like Fred VanVleet or Gordon Hayward or (thus far) trading for frustrated Rockets All-Star Russell Westbrook.

Knicks Notes: Bertans, Randle, Toppin, Point Guards

November 20th, 2020 at 1:44pm CST by Arthur Hill

Wizards sharpshooter Davis Bertans could be a free agent option for the Knicks if they can’t land Gordon Hayward, according to Marc Berman of The New York Post, who says Bertans is high on the club’s wish list. New York has a need for outside shooting and Bertans is one of the best in the league. He ranked third last season in three-pointers taken and made, while hitting them at a 42.4% clip.

Like Hayward, Bertans will carry an expensive price tag and there will be plenty of competition for his services. Washington will make keeping him a priority, and the Spurs would like to bring him back after trading him away to open cap space in an ill-fated attempt to sign Marcus Morris.

The Knicks are one of the few teams entering free agency with ample cap space, roughly $35MM after clearing out the roster Thursday and acquiring Ed Davis from Utah. Berman notes that a sign-and-trade with Washington could be possible, with New York throwing in a couple of the 2023 second-rounders it acquired this week.

There’s more Knicks news to pass along:

Julius Randle‘s future in New York could be shaky after the Knicks drafted his apparent replacement in Obi Toppin, states Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. Randle averaged 19.5 points and 9.7 rebounds per game during his first season with the team, but shot a disappointing 46% from the floor and wasn’t able to become the focus of the offense. He will make $18.9MM this season, but only has a $4MM guarantee on his $19.8MM contract for 2021/22.
In addition to his overall skills, Toppin brings an electrifying athleticism that should make him a fan favorite at Madison Square Garden, notes David Waldstein of The New York Times. “I don’t rank his dunks,” said Dayton head coach Anthony Grant, “but he will definitely excite a crowd with his explosiveness, variety and showmanship. He’s fun to watch; must-see TV.”
For all the excitement about the Knicks’ draft, they still haven’t filled their most pressing need, which is finding a point guard, contends Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post. The decision to part with Elfrid Payton leaves Frank Ntilikina and Dennis Smith Jr. as the only point guards currently on the roster. Options include trading for Russell Westbrook or making a huge offer to free agent Fred VanVleet, but Vaccaro suggests the Knicks might wait for a long-term solution until next year’s draft when Cade Cunningham, Caleb Love and DJ Steward may all be available.

Cavs Discussing No. 5 Pick With Knicks, Others

November 18th, 2020 at 9:45am CST by Luke Adams

The Cavaliers are receiving interest in the No. 5 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, according to Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, who reports that the Pistons (No. 7), Knicks (No. 8), and Celtics (No. 14) are among the teams that have engaged in discussions with Cleveland.

The Knicks just moved up from No. 27 to No. 23 in a trade with Utah and may try to package that pick with No. 8 in an attempt to improve their lottery pick, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Knicks and Cavs have been the two teams in the top eight most frequently connected to Dayton forward Obi Toppin, so it’s possible he could be the target on New York’s radar in a move up, though that’s not confirmed.

The Pistons, meanwhile, have been linked often to Florida State’s Patrick Williams. If he’s still on the board at No. 5, Detroit may have interest in moving up to land him — or to leapfrog Atlanta at No. 6 for Tyrese Haliburton, Fedor suggests.

According to Fedor, the Cavs have their eye on a number of players in the second tier of the draft, including Toppin, Haliburton, Deni Avdija, and Isaac Okoro, among others. Moving down to No. 7 or No. 8 could allow them to “declutter their options” while picking up an extra asset or two.

It’s unclear how interested the Cavaliers would be in moving all the way down to No. 14, which is Boston’s top first-rounder. Cleveland sees a drop in talent after the top 10 or 11 prospects in this year’s draft class, says Fedor. There has been some speculation about a possible Gordon Hayward trade involving the Cavs and Celtics, but it’s not clear if that’s something the two sides have even discussed.